Soft Blonde
by Kikenbutsu
Summary: Cowboy Bebop Sailor Moon The savior confused for the lover. And the savior who become the lover, but all part of a plan, larger than life, that will cost more than you think. SpikeUsagi
1. Soft Blonde 01

Hello, after a lot of thought, I really wanna change how I wrote this story. I wanna update it, my writing has changed considerably since I began writing it, and I want the first chapter especially to reflect my skill, or lack thereof, depending on whether you are a fan of my work or not.

So, here is the revamped chapter. I started writing this almost six years ago, when I was twelve/thirteen. Now, at eighteen. I want to treat you guys. I do not own Sailor Moon or Cowboy Bebop; I am not making any money whatsoever on this fan fiction. It is done solely for my entertainment and the entertainment of others.

**I AM GOING CHAPTER BY CHAPTER EDITING – [MARCH 2, 2008**

Please review.

**Soft Blonde**

_v.2.0 _

Kikenbutsu

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He could feel everything _so_ slowly; each passing second seemed like two, or three. Time slowed down when it was your last few moments, as if giving you a bittersweet farewell to all your days spent; all your days wasted. Clinging to life desperately, those last few moments filled chests full of feeble hope; the feeling of helplessness was at its climax here.

Spike's heartbeat rang within his ears clouding his thoughts. He'd never heard it so clearly till now but in a way he was thankful for it. It let him know he was still alive, that he was blessed enough, in this drawn out moment to even have a heartbeat.

The glass cut through the fabric of his blazer; it was a pathetic barrier against the massive stain-glass window that shattered into pieces around him. His skin was on fire; and he could only faintly hear a scream that only after another second he realized was coming from him. His body twisted amongst the falling debris that was not lodged within his back and arms and legs. Was _this_ it? The end?

_Julia._

She still haunted him, that phantom-like memory. Till death. Five minutes before now; he would have wished beyond anything to see her; to have her next to him forever. Now, Spike Spiegal only had one dying wish. Closing his eyes tightly, half in pain, but half in clouded thought he tried to get a message out to her. As crazy as it sounded; as new age or even as stupid, he closed his eyes and wished.

_Run._

The impact came like a rush, he knew it was coming but in some way it was unexpected. He could feel his bones crack beneath the weight of his own body, his nerves drank the impact wholly; neither shot nor unconsciousness could dim the pain. When it came, he felt it. He wanted to move, he wanted the pleasure of twisting in a way to ease his pain which engulfed him but his limbs responded not. Was this death? He could no longer hear that heartbeat that filled him with hope so; he could no longer see ..

Someone was leaving over him, his eyes somehow readjusted themselves and he could see the outline of a figure and soon colors, and details and lastly, **sound** his own heartbeat. He was alive.

"You'll be alright! Hang on!" Julia. She hadn't gotten his message, she hadn't stayed away. He couldn't protect her! Vicious was here! His jaw felt slack against his face, the wind blew and it chilled him; the blood that poured from his wounds drying in the breeze.

"Run." Was his whisper.

The pair of blue eyes stared back at him, completely perplexed at his respond, he felt something warm against his cheek, but it did not cool in the passing zephyr; it was constant. Her hand brushed the glass that littered his face. "I would never leave you."

And with that, Spike Spiegal closed his eyes into an involuntary slumber.

-----

It was the singing that awakened Spike, the dull hum within his mind; the sound of a woman's voice that bounced about his mind. Groggily, the man of twenty-seven opened his eyes, first was the light of the room that rushed to him, almost blinding him into a extreme squint; then, more painful than the first was the pain. It hit him like a ton of bricks; shocking him almost to tears. He was swollen, his skin stretched tautly within itself so he made no attempt to move. Instead, once the pain had subsided as much as it would, his eyes, still not adjusted to the light searched the room. Looking for Julia, who sang for him, who saved him, who was –

"Faye?" It was barely audible yet her name felt like lead against his lips, neither uplifting of pleasant; actually, it pissed him off.

The woman looked over to him, shiny raven locks twisting about her delicate face as she took in the man who had been out for the past few days, she put down the magazine she had been skimming through turning to him now. "Hey, you're awake. You've been asleep quite a while. I've been worried about you."

He struggled to raise his arm but managed a few shallow degrees of incline, before using his finger to signal to her that he wanted her to approach him with a gentle lurching of the appendage. Tilting her head to the side in confusion but catering to her sick crewmate she knelt down in front of him, eager to hear his request.

"You sing off key."

It was only a moment later that Jet heard the yelp from the kitchen, coming into inspect Faye stomped out past him, roughly pushing past Jet and another girl that followed closely behind the captain of the Bebop. Jet and the woman could hardly hold back their giggles as they looked into the room. Pillow feathers drifted from the sky, Spike had been assaulted, but knowing Spike it was probably something that he had said.

The broken pillow lay against his bandaged chest; the body cast he wore offered not protection against the pillow that had come crashing down against his sensitive nerves. Looking over to the people who stood at the doorway; he watched her laugh a new feeling overcoming him now.

_Julia._

Jet, followed closely behind 'Julia' walked closely over to his spot on the couch. "Spike, this is Usagi. She is the one who kept you alive until Faye and I showed up. Next time maybe you'll think about running off before you do. I'm not gonna be your nurse next time, Spike." Jet scolded. Spike's face visibly fell, from this distance it was easy to tell this girl was not Julia.

She was younger for one, looking just about eighteen, and dressed that way to boot. Her hair was fashioned into the oddest hairstyle, a crop that Julia; being a woman would never entertain. Her clothes were no better. A pink overall jumpsuit almost screamed jailbait; but she held herself with a certain air that assured him that she was over the age to buy cigarettes. But maybe just that.

"Pleased to meet you Mr. Spiegal." Her voice was soft when she spoke and he greeting was accompanied with a small bow, she was trying to be gentle around him, he could tell. She radiated the same purity that Julia did, but in a sort of schoolgirl way as opposed to being a real woman.

"Yeah." It was his only reply.

"Faye really let you have it." Jet examined, he had been holding a skillet in his hand, "His wounds might've opened up again Usagi, maybe you could take off some of bandaging and give it a look?" Usagi blushed deeply. Spike almost rolled his eyes. Definitely a schoolgirl.

"Oh, yes, Mr. Jet."

"C'mon Usagi, you been here almost a week, Jet is fine." Spike looked between the two. He'd never seen Jet act so … cordial. It was strange to see him smile at her; and wait; what was that **smell**?

_Oh my God, is that cologne? Is Jet wearing cologne?_

"Okay Jet." Usagi took a first aid kit from the nearby table and Jet went through the door he came from, going back to the kitchen where he was working on dinner.

She knelt by him, the thick awkward silence hanging over the two like a blanket. The entire room was filled with the gentle shuffling of the sterile bandages and the cap-opening of tubes of ointment as Usagi prepped the supplies. He watched her carefully but yet said nothing; she averted his gaze as she continued to fiddle with the contents of the kit.

"Vicious." He had forgotten. He hadn't killed him, his only regret.

"Oh! You know Mr. Vicious too?"

He almost hurt himself by the way he looked at her, if the nerves in his eyes weren't swollen before they were now, for he looked at her with so much accusation and curiosity he must've pulled something. He tried to scramble into a sitting position, momentarily forgetting his injuries. He hissed in pain, letting his body go slack against the cushions but still eager to hear what she was about to say. "You know him?"

She nodded and continued, his looks going unnoticed by her, a smile cracked across her shy, flushed face. She worked on the bandages now, gently pulling off the old ones to reveal bruised, cut skin underneath. It was almost mangled, actually. While he slept she had changed his bandages twice daily but now that he was awake she let her fingers only just gingerly skim over his wounds. The touch of his skin against her own made her hands shake but she pressed on; her tone very light and airy. "Oh yes. He and I are such good friends. He says," she pulled the bandage from his chest, "that I remind him of someone from his past. I forget her name. Are you two friends as well?" She looked up at him now.

Her blue eyes met his, and he recognized her to be his savior. Her voice was so different now as she spoke, when he lay beaten and broken outside of the cathedral steps, she was everything that Julia was; feminine, smart, adult, wonderful. What she was, her voice her demeanor now seemed contrived, fake even. She was an idiot, no one could be friends with Vicious, unless they were just like him. Again, he questioned her mentally, her personality, being so forced, maybe she **was** just like him. "Julia." He responded.

She nodded enthusiastically, "Oh yes! Yes, Mr. Spiegal, that was her name, Julia." She sighed in adoration for a moment, "Such a pretty, pretty name, isn't it?" Her eyes fell onto his own just as a plan was being formed into her mind; if this girl knew Vicious then he could use her to find him. He was always two steps ahead of Spike in finding Julia. Looking into her eyes, he let a small smile pass along his features.

"Beautiful name."

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**Please REVIEW!**


	2. Soft Blonde 02

**You all…are so sweet… **weeps in joy, her lower lip trembling** I love you… **

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I never thought that I would actually get reviews…I…I… 

YOU must be tired of hearing me talk! Well too bad because I have a speech prepared.** Takes out a long piece of parchment and opened her mouth to speak. She closes her mouth as readers glare at her, fire burning within their eyes**

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Whoa… talk about children of the corn; I want to kiss all of you! **Readers turn and run in fright**

** **

Hey! I brushed my teeth! Come back here! **Runs after readers who continue to accelerate their speed** ****

** **

**Spoilers- Tread carefully**

** **

**Disclaimer- I do now Cowboy Bebop or Sailor Moon, at all…**

** **

**R**

** **

**Drama/Romance/Action/Adventure **

_He was warm, warm in the arms of the woman he had spent so many nights with, and warm in the arms of the woman that completed his life in so many ways. Warm in the arms of the woman that made everything right. He looked down at her, warming his arms around her, bringing her into a tighter embrace. It was quiet, rain pelted on the windows, down into the gutters. _

_He closed his eyes smiling, and falling asleep next to her. _

_ _

"Mr. Spiegal?" 

Spike opened his eyes, blinking back at the light that had obscured his view, he saw Usagi, she smiled at him, almost as if she was unsure she should be there. She held a tray with a bowl on it and walked over to him putting it down. She pulled up a chair and sat down next to him.

"Hello Mr. Spiegal, how are you feeling?" Usagi asked.

"Spike." He corrected. 

He sat up a little on the stiff couch. The body cast had been removed, when, he wasn't sure. It must've been when he was asleep. He was bandaged, Jet's work, he could tell. 

"How do you feel Spike?" She asked again. 

"How do I look?" He asked turning to face her. There was a pause as if she was finding a nice way of telling him the truth. 

"You look terrible." She whispered, afterwards realizing it was not the best thing to say. 

Spike smiled.

"Well…at least you're honest…so are you staying with us?" asked Spike. She smiled cautiously. It was easy to see she was thinking of a way to tell him. 

"Well… I…" she stopped to rephrase her words, "Well…since Mr. Vicious is gone I have no place to go." 

Her eyes were clouded over as if she was about to cry; as Spike opened his mouth to speak she shook her head, "So I have no place to go… and I wanted to stay." She chirped. 

__

He looked at her quizzically, "Why?" 

"I wanted to make sure you were okay . . . Spike." She smiled. 

He didn't say anything after that, but she stood walking over to the tray and picking it up offering it to him, "…Mr. Black said this was your favorite." She whispered. He took one look at it giving her a curt nod. She put the tray back down and walked towards the door. He leaned back, feeling tired.

"Oh and Spike—" she called out before his head hit the pillow. He looked at her, "Yeah?" 

She walked to him silently, looking to the ground, "Well…Spike, I lied to you." 

He sat up quickly much to the protest of his injured body.

"I…I said that Mr. Vicious and I where good friends, I lied. He wasn't the nicest person I've met before…and I'm…I'm glad he's gone."Her face was hidden by her bang that cast a shadow over her face. 

He didn't have much to say after that.

"I hope you feel better Spike." She exited the room inaudibly.

Jet came in a few minutes after that, finding Spike holding the bowl of soup Usagi had left for him. 

"So how do you feel?" Jet leaned against the wall crossing his arm casually over his chest. 

"You lied." Spike spoke, his eyes not meeting Jet's face. 

"What?" 

Spike put down the plate on the tray looking at Jet, "You told her it was my favorite." 

Jet smiled, "It's all we had in the fridge." 

Spike lit a cigarette pushing it between his lips, "Cabbage water is all we have in the fridge?"

"It's not cabbage water it the water the cabbage was boiled in." Jet corrected. 

Spike shook his head, "I shouldn't have asked. Why are you letting her stay here?" 

Spike wanted her to stay, but he knew Jet wouldn't let a stranger stay on the ship without a reason, and a damn good one at that. 

"She doesn't have any place to go…and strange enough she said she wanted to make sure you were okay…" he replied. 

"Thanks Jet." Spike looked closer at Jet. "That the only reason?" He asked, obviously hinting…

Jet shook his head, "No, no, no way…she's almost half my age!" 

A smirk crossed Spike's lips, "But she's legal…" 

Jet sighed, "You're one strange guy." 

"Did you do a background check on her?" 

"Yeah I did, nothing came up on the name Usagi Tsukino." 

"That is weird…are you sure?" 

"Yeah I'm sure Spike, I had a blank screen staring me in the face." 

Spike nodded in reply, "But…doesn't she…" 

"Look familiar." Jet agreed, "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing…like…we've seen her before…somewhere." 

"Yeah–" 

"You poor boys talking about **her**?" Faye walked in, her hips doing a light sashay as she moved settling down on the table and shuffling the cards placed there. 

"I'm going to go…" 

Jet stood up straight up stretching and leaving the room. 

As Jet left Faye turned to Spike. "So, when is she leaving?" 

"She is going to stay here." 

Faye dropped all fifty-four cards she was holding, "What? She can't! She can't stay…here on the ship. She's weird Spike, she is strange, and I don't like her personally… She's just so strange…and she told us she knew Vicious and she used to live with him. Bad taste or what?" Faye protested. 

Spike shook his head, the smoke rising from the end of his cigarette. He didn't say anything. Julia had the same taste.

"Spike listen to me, I heard her talking last night…in her room…by herself. Does that sound crazy to you?" 

"A lot of people talk to themselves, Jet more-so since **you** came on board. What was she talking about?" Spike asked now listening to her intently. 

"She was talking about Vicious." 

"What did she say?" Spike asked. 

"Something about he was gone, and she was crying, maybe she misses him. She shouldn't be here." 

_If she does miss Vicious then she will definitely stay … _"What's the real problem Faye? Liked being the only woman on board or does she eat half as much as you do?" 

Faye stood up, "Ha ha . . .oh and that's another thing, her appetite, I have NEVER seen anyone eat that much, all we had in the fridge was cabbage, she ate all of that AND drank the water we boiled it in." She hissed. 

"Nope…" he eyed the bowl of cold water. 

Faye walked over picking it up before he could reach for it, "It's either her or me Spike, she stays I go." 

He smiled, "First time you've ever promised me something Faye. How nice." 

She narrowed her eyes at him, drinking the disgusting, smelly green water with one gulp throwing the empty bowl at his chest. He winced.

"Women…"

~*~

Usagi stared at him, it was late, and the whole ship was quiet. She was standing at the entrance to Spike's room, looking at him intently. He stirred, he was still hurt, it had been about a week since she came onto the Bebop and despite the fact Faye, and the Dog didn't like her, she was having a wonderful time. 

He looked as if he was having a nightmare; she walked over to him, sitting down near him, "Spike…wake up." 

She shook him gently; he opened his eyes blinking at her reaching out and grabbing her hand. 

"Huh…?" He groaned.

"Spike… you were having a bad dream."

He held his head, not paying attention to her last statement he asked, "what are you doing here?" 

"I couldn't sleep." She answered. He looked at her, it was dark in the room and he could only make out her silhouette.

"So you decided to watch a helpless man while he sleeps?" He joked. 

"You're hardly helpless Spike." She blushed as she said it. She opened her mouth to speak again, the crimson on her cheeks bright. She was glad it was dark in the room. "Where you having a terrible dream Spike?" She asked. 

"Terrible." He said quietly repeating the curious word she had used, realizing that the word was perfect to describe the dream. He nodded, "Yeah." 

She noted how lightly he was speaking and nodded, realizing it wasn't something to press on. "Oh." 

"What were you doing with Vicious, Usagi?" He asked. If she was going to be here she might as well answer some questions.

She bit her lower lip, "I . . . " 

"Ah. I knew I heard something out here." Faye interrupted, leaning against the doorway. 

Usagi stood quickly almost knocking over her chair in the process, "I'm so sorry if I woke you all up." 

Faye smiled, "No problem…Hun." She narrowed her eyes on the girl. 

Usagi smiled giving Spike a timid wave as she exited through the door. 

Faye stared at the door for a moment, a glare planted in her eyes, and then she looked back to Spike. 

"Why was she in here?" Faye had that same mischievous glint in her eyes Spike had when he had spoken to Jet. Clearly hinting…

"Jealous?" He smiled as he turned away from her ever-growing anger. Faye shook her head and smiled through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, 'cause you're God's gift." She taunted, leaving the room.

A few minutes later… 

_ _

"Hello Ms. Valentine." 

Faye jumped drawing the Glock 30 from her hip, unable to sleep as usual. 

"I'm sorry…did I alarm you?" Usagi asked emerging from the shadows. 

Faye kept her Glock trained on her head, glaring with all her fury, she didn't trust her... but Spike did . . . uh huh. 

For what reason I don't know… 

Usagi blinked, and Faye dropped her gun, "Yeah actually. If you didn't notice I'm in my bed and I'm sleeping, and it's the middle of the night. Those are a few signs you could have picked up on." 

"I'm sorry…I think we started out on the wrong foot," she explained, making many nervous hand gestures refusing to meet her gaze. 

"Well, why don't you leave and come back in the morning. We can compare feet then." She went back to her bed as Usagi quickly shuffled out. Faye stared at the ceiling of her room and pictured Usagi. "Weirdo."

~*~

Jet wasn't sleeping then. He was thinking about his new crewmate and how it was she had convinced him to let her stay. It was her eyes, he knew it was. He thought about her eyes and about what Spike had said to him before. Was she drawing him in? No, he couldn't think about that, she was just a kid really.

There was a knock at his door. It was so light that he didn't have to guess who it was. He got up quickly and straightened his clothes as he headed for his hair he stopped, catching himself he knew it was true. She had a piece of him.

He opened the door and found himself staring into those big sky blue eyes. His voice caught in his throat.

"I'm sorry, I guess I'm being silly but I couldn't sleep and I didn't have anyone to talk to. I knew you were asleep but I couldn't help it I guess. I'm sorry, I'm being selfish but . . ." She was stammering. Jet smiled. She wanted to talk to him. Nobody on this damned boat wanted to talk to him. He opened the door wider and for an hour or so then just sat across from each other and talked, not getting into personal things, just talking.

It was only the pull of sleep that separated them that night. If they could have stayed up until morning they would have. Instead when Usagi left there was a smile on both their faces. She went to her room and fell asleep happily. Jet went to sleep and could only see her face in his dreams. They were the happiest dreams he's had in a very long time.

~*~

**You guys! Don't kill me! It's all in the plot…banana ™! **


	3. Soft Blonde 03

Hello Reviewers...I'm so happy and bubbly and…god. Thank you. Okay, lemme write.  
  
Note: Spike is better now, action time!  
  
Spoilers - Tread Carefully.  
  
I do not own Cowboy BeBop or Sailor Moon, or any characters related to it.  
  
The constant growling was what woke her. "Damn dog." Grumbled an irritated Faye as she sat up, finding Ein happily biting her leather shoes that had been placed under the bed the previous night.  
  
"Get the hell out of here!" Faye yelled at the top of her lungs throwing a pillow at the Welsh corgi. With a whimper, a bark, and a hurried scamper Ein exited the room.  
  
Faye stared at herself in the mirror before turning towards the bathroom, she looked disheveled and unkempt, "Why can't a girl get some decent beauty sleep around here?" She asked with a heavy sigh.  
  
She walked out of her room a few minutes later, extending long ivory arms towards she sky. Her pale pink lips opening to allow yawn through. After a few seconds in complete silence she asked aloud, "Where the hell is everybody?"  
  
After wandering for a moment she found Jet and Usagi in the control room. Usagi was asleep in the cushioned chair while Jet stood looking over the panel and every so often checking the screen.  
  
Faye looked over Usagi, and whispered into her ear, "Morning sunshine."  
  
Usagi jolted awake shaking her head from sleep; she broke a small smile about to say 'hello' when she realized all she would accomplish would be to 'offend' Faye. She got up and slipped from the room. 

  
Faye gave Jet a look of infinite lechery. He instantly became defensive, almost belligerent. 

"What?!" 

Faye shrugged her shoulders with a smile.

"Nothing…just-" 

"Just what?!" He nearly screamed.

"She slept here _all_ night?"  

"She…doesn't… have a room…yet." 

Faye smiled again, "Like your new roomie?"

Before he could yell at her she turned heel and left with a knowing smile plastered all over her face. 

"I've no idea what she's trying to hint at." He worked hard to convince himself.  
  
--------  
  
Usagi sat down on the yellow chair opposite Spike. were the 'Big Shots' television show. The female host was just finishing a description for a man name 'Giraffe.'  
  
"Spike," she felt she had to complain at some point. She had been here some time now, and yet they hadn't really spoken since then.  
  
"What?" He asked her, bringing his eyes towards her face.  
  
"There is nothing to eat." She spoke softly. He smirked say only, "kid I'm not so smiley my myself." Before she could reply Faye and Jet entered the room.  
  
"Come on Usagi, Spike."  
  
"Where are we going?" Usagi asked.  
  
Spike looked over the digital picture; he stood stretching and lit a cigarette between his lips.  
  
"To get you some food." Spike answered. 

--------  
  
The room was thick with cigarette smoke and music; Usagi was seated next to the wall, sipping a drink, while innocently listening to the blues harmonica piece.  
  
She was enthralled, at her age; she was flunking music…because she couldn't even stay awake. The boy didn't look a day over 13.  
  
"He's good." Usagi whispered to them.  
  
Jet then cut in, "Damn, blues harp music is good. It's just as good as I thought."  
  
Spike then asked, "I thought you were a fan of jazz?"  
  
Jet replied smiling, "don't be stupid. I started listening to the blues when the doctor hit my bottom on the day I was born!"  
  
Spike peered into small binoculars, "A baby hipster, very cool…you were a pretty thoughtful kid."  
  
Usagi suppressed a giggle smiling. Spike then brought the binoculars down, staring across the room and putting them away.  
  
"No mistake, that's Giraffe."  
  
Jet nodded, "All right, I'm going from the right. You go from the left."  
  
At that moment a large, heavyset man blocked Spike's view. Usagi was staring too; she also lost the sight of him. She stood to get a better look but was pulled down roughly by Spike.  
  
"Sit down!" He barked.  
  
"I was just trying to help." She replied.  
  
"Well sit down and be quiet...please." He replied, she blushed furiously; she liked him a lot better when he was injured.  
  
"That's. Fatty." Jet whispered across the table to Spike.  
  
"The balls' in your court."  
  
Jet stood up, walking off towards the large man, discreetly moving him from eyeshot of Spike. Spike stared at the man known as Giraffe and then stood up, dropping the money for Usagi drink on the counter. Giraffe was a man with strong features, a big nose and gray hairs were scattered about his scalp, he wore a trench coat, and he looked shiftily from one person to the next.  
  
Giraffe was following the small 'blue's child' and a crippled old man out the building, like he was trying not to be seen.  
  
Then it hit her like a nail on the head, she stared, the harmonica boy, he was…he was.  
  
Usagi sat up straight, "I'm coming too."  
  
Spike looked back at her, "No, stay."  
  
Usagi looked ready to scream, Spike needed to keep her happy to make her lead him to Vicious.  
  
"Stay quiet." He said to her.  
  
She beamed and the two left the blues house, when they got outside they caught the crippled man and the boy speeding down the block in a taxi. Giraffe followed close behind. Spike grabbed Usagi's wrist, leading her over to Swordfish II and tagging them.  
  
"Spike, why are we chasing the little boy?" Usagi asked sitting awkwardly on his lap.  
  
"I'm not chasing the kid, I'm chasing the guy who is." Spike answered.  
  
Usagi nodded a let out a small 'oh'. The next thing Usagi saw was the man they were looking for crashing out and down the side of the hotel building.  
  
"Holy shit!" Spike cursed and the Swordfish II dropped altitude, Usagi screamed, seeing the man fall to the ground and plunging dangerously fast towards earth.  
  
He jumped out of the Swordfish II running over to the man's limp body that had landed on the nose of his ship. Tears welled up in the back of Usagi's eyes as she stared at the man, cold and dying. She walked over next to him in time to hear Spike.  
  
"Hey you! Don't die! Hey! Don't wipe out my bounty!" He yelled.  
  
Usagi bent over by him, Spike didn't say anything, she looked his face over.  
  
"Don't die." She said softly.  
  
"D-Don't be fooled by his…appearance." He whispered.  
  
Usagi's brows furrowed in confusion, she shook her head, "Don't speak."  
  
Giraffe looked up at her, tears welling up into his eyes, "Him...help…him…the…stone."  
  
Giraffe put a glowing pink stone in Usagi's hands. She took it; her face was stricken with sympathy.  
  
"Shit." Spike whispered sitting back on the floor as the police arrived.  
  
--------  
  
Jet looked quietly over the stone; Usagi sat in a chair a bit farther away from the rest of them.  
  
Spike finally broke the silence asking, "So what is it?"  
  
Jet looked at Spike, "A stone. For what I can't say exactly until I examine it some more, all I can say is, if you scalp it is will be worth a hefty lot."  
  
Jet tossed it to Spike, "The hell if I know, Giraffe gave it to her." Spike said signaling to Usagi who held a cold wet napkin to her nose; she was still suffering from nosebleed.  
  
Usagi caught the stone as Spike threw it to her; it was warm for some reason. A lot of things that had happened today had got her wondering about some things, how did Giraffe die, why did the boy with the harmonica look so familiar?  
  
Tired.  
  
"Well...he gave it to me, and he died, so out respect I think it would be best to put it to good use." Faye snatched it from Usagi's fingertips, yet Usagi didn't say anything. She had to learn to leave Faye be.  
  
Faye nodded, "For once I think Blondie has a good idea, there is no harm and it's not your responsibility to help the kid."  
  
Spike snatched it from Faye, "This is going to pay for our food, none for you."  
  
Faye playfully pouted, "You have such a poor heart."  
  
"I'm not like that, here have a gift," Jet stated as he handed Faye a piece of paper.  
  
"Oh a gift! What's this? And Invoice? What for?" Faye said obviously pissed.  
  
"For all the expenses you've racked up since you've been on our ship."  
  
"Faye tore it up, "why doesn't she get one?"  
  
Spike smiled looking at Usagi, "Because all her expenses only equal your daily interest." 

|||||||  
  
Usagi brushed her hair, she had a small pocket mirror to use, and she was seated in the dim light of the living room. Jet was asleep across from her, they had just finished a promising conversation about their trip they intended to have to the market.  
  
"Good night." Spike said coming from the doorway. Usagi's hair spilled all over the couch, the tips just brushing the floor.  
  
She started to collect her things, "I hope I didn't wake anyone I didn't realize I was making such noise, I'm so -"  
  
"How thoughtful of you. But you didn't answer my question Usagi."  
  
She nodded, "What was I doing with Vicious? I really don't know."  
  
He frowned, it was vague, and he didn't like the fact it shouldn't too much like a riddle. Then it hit him.  
  
"You and Vicious?" He asked weakly.  
  
She let her eyes cast to the floor, "But not in the way your thinking Spike."  
  
"In which way?" He asked again.  
  
She shivered standing, "Me and Vicious had more of a business agreement than a intimate relationship. Good Night Spike."  
  
Something is very different about this girl…well at least she's not a Faye.  
  
--------  
  
The man, Fatty, from the blues house and Jet where seated at an outdoors café, a table full of pastries spread before them, "So why are you asking about the dead bounty?"  
  
"Well... uh..." Jet stammered uneasily.  
  
"So you were after Giraffe, too."  
  
Fatty takes the cream off the top of a cake and eats it.  
  
" Ya got a good deal?" Fatty asked with his mouth filled with frosting.  
  
"Go ahead, eat."  
  
"Ah well. There's no bounty in it anyway." Fatty figured aloud.  
  
"Yeah. No gain at all." Jet agreed urging Fatty on.  
  
Fatty gives Jet a suspicious look.  
  
"No, no. There really is nothing." Jet convinced.  
  
Fatty smiled nodding, "Ah well. You'll owe me one for today. You know that kid on the blue harp the other day? Giraffe was after that kid Wen's father. His old acquaintance, Zebra."  
  
"Acquaintance?" Jet asked now listening intently.  
  
" You didn't even know that? That they were the top of the Volunteer Self Defense Squad until ten years ago?"  
  
"But why is he after an old comrade?" Jet asked.  
  
Fatty shoveled the last of the cream between his lips answering, "Three years ago, Zebra and Giraffe accepted to reclaim a certain facility. But, a few days later, Zebra ends up missing and Giraffe finds himself blindfolded in a weird place he'd never seen before. Giraffe was going after the top spot in the group, but he was betrayed. But Zebra was still alive."  
  
--------  
  
Usagi had managed to convince Spike in letting her come with him, it was dark outside, and she pulled the thin jacket closer to her body. She followed him into a warehouse silently.  
  
She couldn't think about anything but Wen, her mind clouded.  
  
Wen.  
  
Wen.  
  
Wen.  
  
"Usagi!" Spike yelled for the fourth time, bringing her out of her thoughts.  
  
The lights were on; Wen had the gun trained on her head. His eyes were wide, scared almost, a burning fire, staring right into Usagi's face.  
  
"Put the gun down kid!"  
  
"I'm no kid."  
  
"All kids say that."  
  
"Wen please!" Usagi yelled taking a step closer to him. Spike looked uneasily at Usagi the gun still pointed at Wen.  
  
"Are you crazy get back over here!" Spike yelled.  
  
He tugged on Usagi's arm and she backed up near him.  
  
"Wen please! Listen to me, put down that gun! Giraffe he told me to help you!"  
  
"It's all your fault!" He yelled.  
  
She started towards him again.  
  
**BANG**  
  
Usagi's eyes snapped open as she fell her body landing face forward all the energy she had drained from her face as she fell.  
  
"Usagi!" She heard Spike yell.  
  
"Touch her and she dies right now." Wen threatened.  
  
"What the hell is your problem kid!?" Spike screamed.  
  
Wen smirked, "I may look like this, but I've been alive since the days when humans crawled only on the face of the Earth."  
  
Fifty year ago. A hyperspace gate outside of Earth explodes. Wen emerges  
from a pile of charred bodies.  
  
"It started on the day of the accidental explosion of the hyperspace gate. My body has ceased to age. I can't die. The guys that took interest in me, and experimented on me, all died before me. The end for this guy started when he snuck into the lab. I needed a "parent" to use as a cover." Wen explained.  
  
"Then what the hell are you torturing her for!" Spike yelled.  
  
"Stupid little twerp, don't poke your neck out too far or you might get it cut off."  
  
Usagi's mind churned before she finally mustered up the strength the push herself up from the floor. The bullet had gone though her shoulder, almost grazing her collarbone.  
  
Wen smirked, looking at Spike as Usagi fumbled to stand. "This weirdo was the third one I suppose…now give me the ring." He said.  
  
Usagi was on her hands and need breathing hard. "Wen please…we...we can help you."  
  
"Shut up! Where the hell is the ring?" He yelled.  
  
"What ring?" Spike asked.  
  
Wen shot at Spike knocking the gun from his hand.  
  
"That's fine…even if you did have it, it's a pearl before swine."  
  
Wen started to shoot at Spike, Spike dodged the bullets, grabbing Usagi and sliding behind a few boxes, retrieving his gun. Spike looked at Usagi.  
  
"Be happy lady luck is on your side, it's a mere scratch." He said sarcastically as shots fired.  
  
Usagi managed out a crooked smile, "I'm sure."  
  
Spike smiled, "I told you to stay."  
  
"And I didn't listen." Usagi corrected Spike, for she knew he was on the verge of blaming himself.  
  
Then the clatter of wheels on stairs could be heard the looked out to see Wen pushing Zebra down the stairs. Usagi ran, grabbing him before he fell, yet she only managed to break his fall, for the second she caught him, she fell back.  
  
Spike aimed his gun and shot, Wen fell back. When they looked again they only saw a large puddle of blood.  
  
That was what Spike noticed; but Usagi couldn't help but see the single tear that pooled on the floor.  
  
--------  
  
Jet was bandaging Spike's wound while a sore Usagi sat near Zebra.  
  
Jet grumbled under his breath for a moment before bursting, "Give me a break, you big klutz. You're lucky you got away with this little since we don't have the money for a funeral!"  
  
"Sorry" Spike muttered.  
  
Usagi hadn't answered any of their questions; she had just bandaged her wounds and stayed tight-lipped.  
  
Ein barked loudly near Zebra.  
  
"Shut up Ein, knock it off!" Jet yelled at the Welsh corgi.  
  
Jet finished his bandages as Faye and Usagi noticed tears in Zebra's eyes.  
  
"Oh?" the both chorused as Jet and Spike both noticed the wet pools gathering in his eyes.  
  
"Jet the alpha-catch."  
  
Zebra is hooked up to a machine that reads mental images and displays them on a monitor. There is only noise on the monitor.  
  
Usagi tried to stare through the rice, "Shit…this worthless piece of junk." She heard Jet complain.  
  
Usagi watched intently, he was remembering the time when Giraffe died. She ran from the room, unable to watch anymore.  
  
--------  
  
The stone was carved into a bullet; Spike loaded the stone into his gun and slung the holster over his shoulder.  
  
Jet was thinking silently in the corner, "When the gate exploded, a vast amount of energy and an imaginary coordinate system were created from the resulting twists in hyperspace and got enclosed into the gem of this ring. And that same energy broke Wen's circadian rhythm. His pineal gland continually produces a substance similar to melatonin that inhibits aging. That's how the theory goes in a nutshell. You understand?"  
  
Spike smirked, "As if."  
  
Jet nodded in agreement, "I don't either. So, in other words, there's no way to make sure other than to stick that gem into Wen. I don't know what will happen. It might explode the moment you shoot it in."  
  
"Sounds like fun." Spike said.  
  
Spike begins to walk from the room, "Where is Usagi?"  
  
Jet was worried for a moment, "I…I don't know she was hear when we were watching-"  
  
Faye cut in, obviously annoyed about Usagi, "I thought this would be the last time I'd see you so I decided to see you off."  
  
Spike smirked, "so you're finally leaving us?"  
  
Faye shook her head, "No you're not coming back."  
  
Jet put a cigarette in Spike's mouth and lit it, "I don't like this I don't like this one bit."  
  
Spike took off in Swordfish II.  
  
Faye's bone chilling scream is heard throughout the Bebop.  
  
"What's wrong?" Jet asked.  
  
"Faye turned to him, "That bitch!" She screamed.  
  
"What?" Jet asked in confusion.  
  
"Your girlfriend stole my ship!" Faye screamed.  
  
But how?  
  
--------  
  
Usagi maneuvered _Redtail_ easily, as if she had if for years. She knew her and Faye would be falling out when she returned. She hadn't brought the gem…but she felt somewhere inside Wen was good.  
  
The communication on her ship beeped, "Faye what the hell are you doing out here?"  
  
She recognized his voice automatically and she replied.  
  
"Hello Spike."  
  
Spike gasped, "Usagi what the hell are you doing out here and with Faye's ship?!" Spike yelled.  
  
Before Usagi could answer she saw Wen, he had killed a taxi driver and was taking off down the street.  
  
Spike loomed underneath him, Usagi followed. Spike set off a round of guns at Wen, the Taxicab crashed nearby.  
  
Usagi yelled dropping attitude and landing near the burning pile of rubble, "No! Wen!" She ran towards the flames but Spike stopped her.  
  
Wen emerged from the flames; he looked at Usagi and shot at her. Spike manages her out of the way about a second before the bullet came in contact with her. Spike aimed the gun at him and shot, Wen smirked.  
  
When the bullet came in contact his face was stricken with surprise, horror and pain.  
  
He started to age immediately, Usagi ran towards him, crying.  
  
He smiled up at her, Spike came up behind her, and tears were streaming down her cheeks.  
  
"I see... I can finally die now... But... I feel so at ease now... Do you know...? Do you understand...? Do you...?" He whispered at Spike.  
  
Wen closes his eyes and the breath leaves his mouth, Spike takes Wen's harmonica and blows into it, a ragged hoarse noise can be heard.  
  
"As if."  
  
Spike tosses the harmonica into the air and points his finger at it. "Bang."  
  
--------  
  
Spike lay in his room staring up at the ceiling silently, the familiar tune of Julia singing entered his mind.  
  
"Just like that...sing for me please." He whispered at her.  
  
Her face boomed into a loving smile.  
  
"You have compassion Spike Spiegal." Usagi whispered from the doorway.  
  
He looked up at her. "I never thought myself as compassionate."  
  
She entered the room, "Compassion is what everyone wished they had, and if they have it. They don't notice."  
  
"What's your story Usagi? Everyone has a story."  
  
She shook her head, "It is a very long story…what's your story Spike? Everyone has one."  
  
He smiled, "You catch on quick."  
  
She sat down, sitting back, intent on listening.  
  
"I was born a bounty hunter." He started, and by the tone of his voice he had finished also.  
  
She nodded, "Same." She smiled.  
  
His growling stomach was the only thing that interrupted them. She reached into her pocket but found it empty.  
  
"But-" His mouth was an awful looking oblong shape.  
  
She glared, "What is that?"  
  
He opened his mouth, "chocolate bar."  
  
She smiled shaking her head, "You never cease to amaze me Mr. Spiegal."  
  
He smiled, "that hit the spot."  
  
She giggled lightly at him. "Why are you so interested with Mr. Vicious Spike?"  
  
He was guard off-guard by her question, "Me and him knew each other when we were really young. And I couldn't catch him for a while now."  
  
"I'm sorry about Mao Yen Rai." She said to him.  
  
"How did-you?" He asked as Jet entered.  
  
Jet looked at the two for a moment before smiling.  
  
"It's ready."  
  
Usagi smiled, "It smells great Jet what is it?" She asked bounding over to him smiling.  
  
"Special, Belt Peppers and Beef."  
  
BANG  
  
--------  
  
YES! THIRD CHAPPIE FINALLY FINISHED; I WOULD LIKE TO THANK MY WONDERFUL AND LOVELY SISTER HEION FOR EDITING THIS! If you have any humanity left Look up Heion, she has a Cowboy Bebop, Sailor Moon ficcy out too and she's completely genius. Please look up her ficcy 'The Bounty Head.'  
  
I would also like to say, don't try and be too confused because this story takes many interesting twists and turns along the way.  
  
Banana!  
  
BOOM  
  
KIKENBUTSU (COMBUSTIBLE)  
  
Oh thank you! I love you so much! I'm so happy you reviewed my story.


	4. Soft Blonde 04

IMPORANT AUTHOR'S NOTE

** PLEASE READ **

_*please*_

_Well…This ficcy has been promising, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to come back to the original rule. I haven't been getting much feedback from this ficcy, and not to be too bigheaded but truly, it hasn't been like that in the past. So, I urge you to review because reviews are motivation and I am not feeling motivated with three reviews. I will not continue this ficcy if I do not get a significant amount of reviews, this ficcy will be discontinued and then erased from the fanfiction.net database. Negative feedback is more than welcome; I would rather get negative feedback then none at all. _

_With that, I present to you, from the Maker of Sweet Solitude, A Little Slip of Courtesy and Glass Warrior…_

_*please*_

**Soft Blonde**

**Chapter 4**

She awoke, drenched in a cold sweat, panting heavily, her breaths coming out short, heaved, almost forced beyond her lips. It took her a moment before she realized where she was, what she was doing, and more importantly who she was. Bringing a shaking hand towards her forehead she brushed back matted bangs and lay back in the desk chair behind the controls, staring silently in the darkness. 

She placed a cool hand on her chest, in attempt to calm her breathing. 

"Shit." 

-----

"This bounty doesn't interest me much…" Faye said clasping her arms together and stretching. Faye, Spike and Jet were discussing their latest bounty head, a hit worth 4 million wulongs, a small price seemingly. 

"I don't think I'll go." She said leaning back in a chair. 

"Well then I don't think you'll eat." Jet retorted. For the last three hits, which were very small indeed Faye hadn't worked at all yet she took the liberty to 'reap the fruits of our labor.' Spike had put it. 

They knew what she was about to say she'd been saying it for the pasts couple months, "I don't eat half as much as _she _does and…she doesn't work. Why do I have to work to eat." Faye asked as if it was going to change the fact she was or was not going to eat it. Because she was no matter what anyone said. Faye, mind you, had a gun. 

Spike leaned back in the couch. He was getting the feeling that Jet actually really did think of Usagi in some other way than a person 18 years junior to him. Every time him of Faye brought up the fact that he was acting awful protective or the simple fact of all the time they spend together got him pretty ticked off. 

Faye smirked, "Oh…I almost forgot you got a little crush on her, sorry to insult your…roomie." She said smiling. She turned walking upwards to the door.

"I'll make my own wulongs." She said leaving Jet red faced an embarrassed. 

"I am not going to open the hanger anymore for her… she'll stay the hell off my ship." He threatened. 

Spike opened his mouth to comment but was cut short by a, "Don't even utter it." 

Yep, Spike knew it…Jet had the hots for Usagi. 

"Well she is beautiful." Spike said out of fun watching Jet's face light with jealousy. 

-----

Usagi listened from the doorway, giggling, yet only the last part about keeping Faye off the ship. She walked into the room. 

"What are you smiling about?" asked Spike, he was a bit teetered off he didn't even get a decent conversation in about Vicious in for the last few weeks. 

"I've decided to help since its kind of my fault Faye is gone." She said seriously.  

It was a small bounty, less than 5 million. Jet wouldn't be of assistance.

Jet's heart momentarily sank a slight purge of jealous rushed through him; she'd be stuck with Spike all day instead of him. She's been with him everyday for a few weeks now. He didn't want to loose… Damnit! He was sure it was her eyes drawing her into him. 

Then he brightened… Spike had no interest in her. He mentally smiled.  

The small alarm went off, alerting them that they were nearing the planet and autopilot would soon be shutting down. Jet retreated to the controls. 

Spike stood, "what do you think your getting into, after the last bounty you followed me with… you could have got your ass killed." 

He was preaching.

She suddenly felt hot in the cheeks and embarrassed. She had reasons to freeze the way she did. 

"Well it's not my fault. Excuse me if I don't have such 'keen' reflexes as you do…I may be slow on my feet…but I'm not thick!" 

The first time in years, she felt like she did when she was fourteen years old again. Immature.

She stormed from the room, almost knocking Jet over in the process; he stared after her, a confused look on his face.

Spike looked mildly surprised, then turned to Jet, "Is she on her period?" 

-----

**Europa. **

Snow. It was spring though. Interesting. 

Piles and piles of snow, deep and thick…she almost sank into it. Europa was one of Jupiter's satellites, one of the 30 or so Jovian satellites…a few found since the original four, Io, Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa. 

Yet it was an extremely cold planet many lived there, why?

The answer was water.

Water was underneath Europa's surface just about three miles down about thirty miles of it as well, water, especially on Mercury where it was basically a desert and solar flares hit numerous places on it yearly. Water was a good investment, water harvesting brought in good money, but no just harvesting, but the water underneath Europa was an ocean, salt-water. So it was utterly useless without micron filtering. 

It wasn't particularly cold today; it was snowing again, a soft, light shower of flurries, with a gentle wind. Usagi closed her eyes momentarily breathing it in, and then opened her eyes, taking it in. Wrapped in a white bubbled-jacket, pink earmuffs and pink gloves she seemed content. She looked at Spike in his own bubble jacket. It was still deathly cold inside the small pub, and Usagi sitting in a booth next to Spike, her hair out of her customary style and cascading downwards to her hips on a long French braid, looked like any ordinary couple.

Leo Galilei, a small but useable 4 million wulongs, wanted for passing information out to a small dangerous syndicate with help of his partner, the syndicate now eradicated, one of the few had managed to slip his name and his partner's to the cops to shorten his sentence.

She pushed her hands into her pocket and withdrawn her right, forgetting the Glock sitting inside of her pocket. She inwardly shivered; she silently remembered the last time she held a gun. 

_*Flashback*_

_"I'm tired of playing these games with you." She said in the presence of his bedroom away from the many bodyguards that stood outside. _

_He would be leaving again, right now to the opera house, meeting a woman. She alive with rage held the gun between her fingers, it wasn't the first time she held one, much less aim to kill. _

_He didn't do anything, he knew by the look in her eyes, the sound of her voice and smell of fear that emitted from her she was scared. He didn't speak he just stood there, and so did she. _

_She's killed so many…why? Why couldn't she kill him? She knew now…he had a piece of her…she couldn't kill Vicious…_

_"I don't want to be pushed to the side anymore Vicious… I don't want to be ignored… listen to me. Or I'll kill you." She threatened. _

_"Empty threats Omiomono." _

_She gasped as he lunged at her, reaching for his katana in one swift motion and with it knocking the gun from her hand. She backing into a wall was pinned there by him. She held her breath. _

_"I'd kill you if I didn't **need** you so much Omiomono." He said grasping her chin roughly and forcing her to look up at him. _

_Tears gathered in her eyes, anger shining inside of her. _

_Blind with fury she brought her hand up and around towards his face in a slap, he was hit but he didn't even flinch on contact. He pushed her into a chair, grasping the handles she leaned back momentarily, the chair going back briefly on its back legs. The sharp, cool contact made her open her eyes. _

_The blade of his katana was leveled steadily underneath her chin, the chair slightly back, would only kill her if pushed forward. _

_"I smell fear Omiomono." He said looking at her while her feet frantically tried to steady the chair as far from the blade as possible. _

_"I'll kill you…" _

_He sheathing the katana, looked down at her, "Empty threats again Omiomono?"_

_She knew it was true; she couldn't kill him, not today, not tomorrow. _

_"Get some rest Omiomono." He said leaving the room. _

_She couldn't help but break down in an array of sobs._

_*End Flashback*_

"Omiomono." She whispered. 

"What you say?" Spike asked looking at her from peering across the room. 

"Oh…nothing…what's going on with Leo?" She said quickly, quietly. 

She'd listened to enough stories from Jet to know not what to do when you're a rookie bounty hunter, after some graphic stories on dead bounty hunters, only to cause the notorious bounty head price to go up, one would think she got the picture. 

"Not much... since I can't hear anything." He said pushing a cigarette between his lips. 

Spike looked him over, he was sitting over there with five men, all big except the one woman planted right next to him in the table. Spike inwardly smiled, she was kind of cute. Light brown hair cascaded to her shoulders in stick straight blunt cut pieces, seductive green eyes where almost completely hid behind in straight nose bridge grazing bangs. 

"Listen Usagi, they are leaving, are you ready?" 

Usagi nodded then caught the direction Spike was really looking at and smiled a bit, "You're looking at that girl." 

Spike opened his mouth, a sly and vulgar comment was about to rise from his lips when he realized Usagi was a woman and a small one at that. "She's really beautiful." 

She laughed lightly.

The people stood, after a few handshakes the larger men were gone and the woman and Leo were on their way out and into the blistering cold, off to, who knows were. 

"Leo Galilei I presume." Usagi said drawing her gun. 

Spike smirked; she was catching his attitude like the plague.

Leo turned as well at the girl, "Who's asking?" 

"Just two lonely cowboys looking for a little company with the warm bounty on your head." Spike said with his Jericho 941 aimed at the woman, he gave her sly smile. 

She looked at him with utter and complete loathing disgust. 

Spike broke out in a smile, momentarily realizing who she was, "Simone Marius, four million wulongs. Wanted for…" He smiled shifting his gaze momentarily at Leo before turning his attention back to her, "slipping information to a powerful and dangerous syndicate leader. Causing deaths to many. Old habits die hard, eh?" 

Simone now spat at him, "We don't need to take this Leo, and they're just a bunch of ruthless cowboys with no sense." 

Leo nodded, observing Usagi closely, taking in her attire. "And obviously not well-paid bounty hunters because they can't even dress themselves." 

Usagi blushed and glared, "Shut up."

Spike mentally smiled, it was quite funny… 

"No more talk you two…now if you'd be nice and come along quickly… then we can buy some new clothes, and who told you you're the authority on fashion?" Spike asked Leo. 

Simone said something to Leo in an unknown language; he studied Spike momentarily and then cocked a brow, looking to Usagi, "Her jacket, _is _a color I've heard of, off-white." Then he looked back to Spike, "You though, I've never heard of a color called off-red." He said with a smile, "I think in most circles it's called pink." 

Usagi mentally smiled, his jacket **was** pink…

Spike now alive with anger yelled, "Alright no more fashion tips." He looked at Usagi for clearance. She nodded. 

"You take the girl Usagi." 

Usagi looked to the woman, then immediately fell back into the snow as a fist connected with her nose. Spike was busy fighting Leo so he couldn't pay much attention to her. 

She rolled over as quickly as she could just as Simone brought a kick towards the snow-covered ground. Usagi, retaliating as fast as she could brought a sweeping kick down across her legs, knocking her over onto her back. Reaching of the gun that had clattered away she froze as she felt the safety click from Simone's weapon and the cool steel pressed against her forehead. 

In one swift movement Usagi kicked the woman in her stomach, she fell over holding her stomach in pain. Usagi grabbing the Glock leveled it at her head. 

Spike threw a punch at the man as he approached him; it connected into the side of his neck and he gasped for breath momentarily holding his neck in sheer pain, Spike looking down at him smiled before allowing the Jericho 941 to level at his head. 

"Usagi you just 'bout wrapped up over there?" Spike asked. 

Usagi, roughly wiping blood from her bleeding nose, "Yes." 

Spike nodded, and threw the two pairs of handcuffs in the snow near them. 

Spike smiled. "Now be a good fashion critic and put on your bracelets." 

-----

Jet pressed the ice pack on Usagi's nose. 

"Thank you." Usagi said, muffled slightly. 

Jet nodded, the two were tied up in the storage room, he watched them from the monitor closely. They still hadn't heard from Faye, she'd been gone a few hours now. 

"Jet…" 

He looked down at her and caught himself looking into her eyes; he drowned in them he always did. And it was killing him just to see her everyday and not be able to hold her and love her the way he thought he should be able to. He opened his mouth; he was going to tell her. 

"Jet, I need to go talk to Leo and Simone…" she said. 

It would have to wait, because without another word she was up out of the control room. Jet sighed momentarily. 

Spike walked inside the control room after her, looking at Jet, "Heard from Faye yet?" He asked, his sleeves were rolled up, evidence he had been either washing swordfish or practicing Jeet Kun Do  

"No…knowing Faye she'll probably show up in a few days hungry." Jet said. 

Spike sat down leaning back in the chair. "Jet, if I were to ask you a personal question would you answer." 

"No." Jet replied typing in a few buttons, he had already contacted the ISSP and it would only be a matter of time till they showed up to collect the bounty. 

"Well then, Jet what exactly are you after?" Spike asked, jumping over the fact that he had said 'no.'

Jet cocked a brow, "Whoa Spike…what do you mean by that?" 

Spike shrugged, "Well maybe you'd see Usagi—"   

Faye sauntered in smiling, "Like a piece of eighteen year old ass." She finished. 

"Your back." Spike said as Jet fumed. 

"I don't know how you got the hanger opened Faye but—" Jet started. 

"Where is Blondie anyway?" Faye asked cutting off a red-faced Jet. 

"None of your business." Jet said crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at Faye, he as absolutely seething at her. 

Spike sighed, "Faye, have you developed a little crush on Jet yourself? You're paying awful close attention to the relationship status between him and Usagi..." 

Faye looked at Spike, "As if, men like you could only drift away in sleep to have me, and that's were I would like to keep it, only in your wildest." She said brushing a lock of ebony hair over her shoulder with the back of her hand. 

"Faye's actually is telling the truth. I've had a nightmare like that once." Spike said as Faye left looking for Usagi, her face now as red at Jet's. 

-----

Usagi sat in front of the 'prisoners' it was dark in this room cluttered too, a few boxes were scattered about the place. Their hands and their feet bound all they could do was glare at her in the dim light. 

She smiled at them, "I would like to ask, and who you were talking to? I knew you were telling someone something…the syndicate…which one?" 

Simone glared at her, "Why would we want tell a cowboy our business?" 

Usagi looked at them, she was officially a 'cowboy.' That brought a large genuine smile to her lips that surprised Simone and Leo. 

"Well I just wanted to know…" She said looking around, "and if they get wind that you're caught, their names could be on the line. They don't want that. So in a few weeks, if your lucky…a few days when common, you'll be dead. Unable to speak." 

They paled at the last comment, "I'll tell you." Leo said, afraid for his life. 

"No Leo you can't!" Simone said to him, in shock their promise to stay quiet was so easily broken. 

Leo's hair was just like Simone's, his hair stick straight and reaching his shoulders in neat, blunt cuts, only his was fine and white as snow, his eyes an icy crystalline blue. His skin was pale but his features flawless and handsome. 

"We were talking to Kline, Systen, and Boris it's not a syndicate but terrorists fighting for a blind cause but fully operational in any field of crime you may think off." 

"What…what were you talking about with them?" 

Simone, their secret already blown opened her mouth, "We were discussing a kidnapping of a girl, her parent's holding the largest and most profitable company for water-harvesting you see, not just any girl but a very, very wealthy little girl. Leo and I are professional hackers and ex-investigators…we can get any information on anyone or anything." 

Usagi nodded, "So you're going to help them kidnap a little girl?" 

Simone's voice was barely above a whispered, "A three-year old toddler more than 'little girl.' They are going to kill her." 

"Your sick… your so sick… we can't let this happen." 

Faye sauntered in right then, she had been listening since Usagi had asked. "And to think when I as out there searching for some pocket change I just incidentally got a lead on a Kline, Systen and Boris. Must I save everyone's life?" 

Usagi jumped up spinning around and held Faye by her shoulders, "Faye, we have to save the little girl…you need to tell me what you know." 

Faye peeled Usagi's finger's off her shoulder's, "Listen Blondie, I don't have to do anything for you, I could just do it for the four million wulongs reward on each of their heads." 

Usagi looked at Faye, and almost smiled, she knew Faye wouldn't let a child be caught in crossfire…She knew. 

Faye turned back to the two people bound on the floor, "Now, we are going to need a little help if were going to get this cash now aren't we?" 

-----

Phoebe, that was the name of the little girl, the little three-year-old girl. The child that had a head of curly black hair, a bright smile and large red eyes, button nose and bubbly attitude. 

Simone was typing away at a computer while Marius watched, they had been shifting positions and now, Simone moved over it was Leo's turn. They had been typing away, finding out about everyone, confirming things Faye had said, looking for the little girl who was indeed missing and now they were at task of where Kline, Systen and Boris were hidden. 

"You guys really can find out anything." Faye said watching the screen explode with information. 

Jet stood next to Usagi while Spike and Faye held the guns up, ready to shoot if they were trying anything. 

"I can't believe them…I new when you told me about then they were terrible…but a child, an innocent child. That's just ruthless." She said to her, the tears threatening to fall. 

Jet could only freeze when she softly started to cry and he could only hold her when she cried into his chest. 

Spike looked up o see him holding her, he felt something, he didn't know what…not exactly. He'd only felt it once and he wasn't sure if it was the same thing… Jealousy? _No way in hell. _He concluded, nothing was wrong with Usagi…but. His mind could only drift; wondering how many times she's been holding Vicious…hold Vicious, being with _him…_ Usagi seemed just **tainted** to him. So…what can explain this…feeling?

"We've found them." Announced Leo. Usagi wiping her tears pulled from Jet's arms. He sighed, _damnit. That was the perfect moment. _

Faye smiled, "Twelve million here we come." 

-----

Tears were running down the torrents of her face but her soft cries were falling of deaf ears. "Shut up!" Systen yelled at her. It was a large hotel room, decorated with fine Victorian furniture and trays of food lay about. 

Systen was a large man, biggest out of the group, with dark black skin and iniquitous coffee eyes his behind sunglasses yet they didn't cover the burning intensity and cruelty of him, his curly mound of hair was pulled back into a ponytail, specks of gray decorated his scalp, he wore a suit, clean-cut and a plain black color. 

"Systen, shut up…they might hear you." Boris said emerging from the bathroom zipping up his trousers. He was large as well but not as big as Systen, Systen was round yet Boris had large muscles that covered his entire body. His face was scrubby and his hair was a platinum blonde color his suit consists of the same as Systen's only in a burgundy red.  

"I want my momma!" Phoebe wailed her face a bright red shade. 

"Well if your 'momma' would just pay the ransom, we'd out of here real quick little girl." 

Phoebe could only continue to scream, they were getting phone calls about the noise every five seconds, Boris now more aggravated than ever covered her mouth with a strip of tape. 

Her cries were muffled. 

-----

"_Little _help?" Spike asked eyeing the man behind the desk. 

The man behind the desk smiled, sweat dripping down his face. He was a round man with teeth, lightly browning and shaggy black hair that was matted to his skin. He sat behind the desk, staring at the screen. 

Faye, smiled to Usagi and Spike, "I'll take care of this…" 

She sauntered up to the man, smiling; his attention was switched from the screen to the black-haired woman that was walking so seductively towards him. 

"Got a light?" She asked leaning against the desk, his eyes traveled up and down her body before pulling a light from his back pocket and setting fire to the end of her cigarette. 

She blew the smoke into his face with a smile, "Oh, thank you. Now, I need the tiniest favor from me?" 

He smiled, "Anything…" 

She smiled, "I need you to locate, a friend for me, three actually. Three…big men, with a little girl." She asked looking at him. Yep, he knew what she was talking about. She leaned closer to him, "It would so nice of you if you told me…" 

He looked at her, "How's a 'bout you gimme some sugar and we'll discuss that?" 

She positioned the Glock 30 at his neck. "How 'bout you give me what I ask for and I'll be on my way?" 

It wasn't long after that they were staring in the face of the door; the muffled screams were easily heard behind the door. Usagi almost tore the door open and was held back by Spike. She wriggled from his arms. 

"They are going to kill that little girl Spike…get off of me…" She hissed out harshly. 

Spike held her tight against his chest. "They'll just get rid of her a lot faster if we all just burst in there right now… Calm down…" 

She quivered, her face was pressed against his chest, "She can't die…" 

Faye sighed irritably, "Should I go back downstairs and get you two a room are we going now?"  

Spike's head snapped up, grabbing Faye's waist and pulling the two women to the side before the barrage of bullets ripped through the door and hit the opposite wall. 

"Hey! Watch it!" Faye yelled as she tumbled to the ground awkwardly. 

"I just saved your ass be grateful!" Spike yelled back at her. 

"You could have done it a bit less masculine!" She yelled referring the force he had used to push her. 

"Well if I had done it feminine they there would be nothing left of you!" He snapped back. Usagi stood up, shaking. 

"What the hell is **that** supposed to mean!?" Faye yelled in anger. 

"Stop it!" Usagi yelled, "There is an innocent life on the line…please." 

"Mama!" Was the dimming cry from the room. The little girl's scream were soon muffled. The sound of ISSP police sirens were easily heard in the distance. 

Usagi took off momentarily forgetting Faye and Spike. 

-----

"I knew that this was a stupid idea!" Kline complained. 

"Shut up! Complaining will get you no where!" Systen yelled back holding the struggling child in his arms, Boris stayed quiet, sweat running down the side of his head. They were going to get caught…

"There had to be reason Vicious would want us to get this girl! I mean, she's worth a lot of money, and if you don't comply Vicious and the rest of the Red Dragons will see to it that you will in more ways that one!" Boris defended in fright. 

"Vicious doesn't need money… he doesn't need anything, are you stupid? He did this to track me down… you actually think Vicious…leader of the Red Dragon Syndicate would need money from some second hand mob?" 

Their guns were pointed at her the entire time, "Shut up!" He said preparing to pull the trigger. 

Her gun was raised, and a bullet ejected from the tip, it cocked back in her hand, piercing through cold air and snow as it hit it's target. The gun was knocked from his hand. He stared at her, and she blinked. 

**No…**

**Stop.**

Too late. The bullets shot from her gun, hitting their targets, flawlessly. 

Pulling the trigger once bullet erupted it was only a fraction of second before it pulled through the skull of it's target, as if late on queue the bullet hole, ripped through him, yet he reached up to touch his head in pure shock, like the blow had caught him off guard before blood spilled out of face and down his chest. He fell. 

Kline was dead. 

She turned her attention to the other two who had dropped the child. It was almost like slow motion…almost like something she had remembered from a long time ago…

_*Flashback*_

**_C'mon… I'm paying you good money for this…_**

****

_She remembered those words so clearly; it was her first 'job.' She was inexperienced but she had been hired. Pushing the thick pink shades farther up her nose bridge she peered across the room in silence. She didn't know why but this man didn't seem all too right in the head…hiring a 'beginner.' It was nothing short of unheard of. _

_Assassin. The title lingered around her. She was an assassin. She'd been on her own for many, many years… and after a few odd jobs, waiting tables, janitorial work, little things, supermarkets, she'd never been able to keep something steady. Or keep a job period. She was constantly; moving and she need to stay moving. Always moving… until she found her. _

_She looked across the room, a coffee house, the aroma of cocoa beans and pastries lingered in the air, she breathed in soft stirring her hot chocolate. She never really liked coffee, just cocoa. Chocolate had always been Mamoru's favorite…_

_She noticed her target was moving, leaving her cocoa unnoticed and following discreetly behind. _

_She watched the man silently as he rolled through the street nervously every so often checking over his shoulders. Paranoid. This would be easy, her employer had told her, although he was expecting anything. He was too busy being scared to do much damage to her. _

_He felt her watching him, and it wasn't long until he broke into a run, she ran after him. She suddenly felt sick to her stomach, what was she doing? Killing for money…? It was wrong in so many ways. All ways actually. But she pushed herself forward, she **needed** this. _

_He stumbled into an alleyway not long after she followed him, "Kijo! Kijo!" He yelled pointing at her. She-devil._

_"Forgive me." She raised the gun and with surprising accuracy the bullet ripped through his skull and the warm crimson liquid splattered against the wall._

_A wave of nausea hit her. _

_*End Flashback*_

"Usagi stop! Damn it! You'll kill him!" 

Spike's voice brought her out of haze as she let the gun clatter to the floor. Blood tricked from over the side of the balcony as she halted her furious struggling against Spike. Her face was pressed against his warm chest, she didn't realize her trembling state until she collapsed eyes rolling back into her head, the quickly dulling sounds of shouts and cries, the decreasing warmth of her body and police sirens in the distance. 

_*Dream Sequence*_

_"I don't like this Endymion… I don't have the best feeling about this… thing…gate?" I explained to my husband as he came into our bedroom. I looked up at him from my vanity mirror. He smiled lightly. _

_"Serenity, darling. It will expand our universe… then and only then will you be able to the other senshi so freely." He said matter-of-factly. I hated it when he brought out my points of agreeing to all his 'new-age projects.' _

_I bit my lip, "I suppose your right…what's the worst that could happen right?" Then suddenly, my mind really did start to contemplate what the worst that could happen was. _

_"Endymion—" I started but her swept me up off my feet and turned out the lights. He had silence me with a kiss. _

_Really…what was the worst that could happen?_

_*End Dream Sequence*_

"Ohhh…my head…" 

"Shh…quiet…don't move around too much you hear. You got a nasty blow to the head after you fell." Jet whispered quietly pressing the cool rag against Usagi's wounded forehead. She groaned again in pain, her neck was stiff, she couldn't turn it too much, and there was a throbbing pain right about her eyebrow. 

"Wha- what happened?" She asked uncertainly, she shouldn't have asked because she knew what had happened she had killed two men. Now she would have to hear it from Jet's lips. 

He silenced for a moment, what would he say? She obviously couldn't remember. "You…" He stopped to put his words together. 

"Blew the bounty to all hell." Faye finished walking in. He was clearly angry. 

"What the hell was your problem back there huh? You blew eight million wulongs to all hell! I'm tired of your bullshit! You're too fragile to do anything and too annoying to do nothing! I mean, what the hell was that back there… you could've killed the little girl!" 

Usagi who had sat up was staring at the floor. She honestly, didn't feel sorry about what she did, she was just sorry she got caught. She wouldn't have changed a thing she'd done. 

"No would have." She spoke lightly, just loud enough for Faye to hear. Faye, in turn looked furious. 

"You don't know what the hell you were doing! You're a rookie, and a rookie with a gun. Not a friendly equation! Listen up, you just blew us a lot of money! I just can't—" She was cut off as Usagi forcefully slammed her fist into the table. It rocked dangerously under the force. 

"I'm telling you I wouldn't have shot the child! I know what I was doing…I've…done it so many times before…I've had some control." Her voice died out to inaudible towards the end. 

Faye stared at her, for a moment, she could see it, not just the dumb blonde, careless and had tripped over the same stair for the past few months. No. She saw it. She saw despair. She saw fright and she saw Usagi. Realizing she had let her guard down she momentarily let anger flicker across her face before it died away. She was so…sad. Those eyes…those eyes…those eyes were so familiar. It annoyed her to no end. Those were the eyes of someone that no one in their right mind should forget. Nobody should forget those eyes. 

It was a bitter torture. Faye couldn't remember those eyes…that face. Usagi blinked, backing from Faye and taking off out the door. 

"Baby blue eyes." 

-----

She dressed quickly, taking everything she would need. She needed to leave the Bebop…she had to. She couldn't stay, taking all her belongings, she would leave. Slipping on her jacket she looked to the door, she was faced with the calm and collected stature of Spike Spiegal. 

"So your leaving? Can't hack it eh?" 

She momentarily fumed, why did everyone on this damned ship think that she was ignorant and ditzy and…BLONDE. There, right out and say it. Blonde, the stereotype they give her was so century ago. 

**Rei…**

**Minako…**

**Makoto…**

**Ami…**

"I…thought I caused you enough trouble…and no I don't think I can…'hack it' that is." 

"Why not?" He asked her smoothly. She looked up at him, and finally realized how very handsome Spike looked. Funny, she'd never noticed it before. 

"Well for starters Faye's hostility isn't greeted with open arms. I've lost you enough money and three…I have business to attend to." She finished. She could go on with many reasons but she mentioned enough. 

"Well for one, Faye's a right out bitch. Two, you got a point." She smiled, "And three. I know that small time group Kline, Boris and Systen could have never thought of a plan that intricate." 

She nodded, "Your very smart Spike Spiegal, I applaud you. Vicious is alive… he's looking for me… he knew Systen, Boris and Kline would attract some attention. He knew that…I didn't realize until Marius and Simone came up the information. Small time, amateur crooks. Vicious set them up, hoping to find me… interesting he didn't suspect what would happen happened." 

Spike nodded, he had been thinking the exact same thing, small time crooks with a plan like that was seemingly unfathomable with their history. Vicious had been tailing someone… he had also figured a bit after the remaining leader Systen had admitted to taking a bribe. He'd only come to that conclusion after the two were dead, but was tailing it. He was slightly surprised that Usagi knew the exact same thing, and she'd been knocked clear out at the time. 

"So your leaving, just like that to go and find Vicious?" He asked, he was kind of angry… not only did he need her for Vicious, and Vicious to Julia…he had somewhat enjoyed her company. Somewhere deep in the back of his mind, he was going to miss her. 

"Yes…yes…" she didn't feel like she needed to lie. She needed to find Vicious, she needed Vicious. "I need him Spike…" 

"For what?" He asked alive with rage, he'd be chasing Julia forever at this rate…he needed to be back in her arms. Julia was the one woman he loved… he felt complete with her. "Stay...please." 

Usagi looked up at him from underneath her eyelashes, "Spike… I…I need to do some things…I'll come back…" She said walking over to him with all her things. He looked down at her, he couldn't make her stay. 

She tiptoed up as high as she could, letting her lips momentarily brushing his cheekbone before pulling away and exiting the Bebop and into the cold Europa spring.   

**_Easy come…easy go…_**

_*review*_

_Remember this story WILL NOT be continued unless you review. I repeat, THIS STORY WILL NOT BE CONTINUED UNLESS YOU REVIEW._

_I'm fourteen years old and, this chapter was sheer knowledge and research, I put soul in my work. PLEASE REVIEW OR THERE WILL BE SOFT BLONDE NO MORE._

_*review*_

**Important Note- I'm currently looking for an editor…something alone those lines. My sister who used to called herself my 'ghostwriter.' I'd like to have someone to edit my stories and help me with my ideas. **

_Next Chapter…if there is a next chapter…_

_Jammin' with Edward! _


	5. Soft Blonde 05

Oh! Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful reviews! I'm so happy. You all really do love me! 

I'm so touched. I had no idea I would get that many reviews, all; good for that matter! Oh my. Yes, so back down to the chapter at hand. 

Since you all were so nice… I've decided to continue this ficcy. So anyhow, I do not own Cowboy Bebop or Sailor Moon.

Chapter Five Soft Blonde

_Jammin' with Edward_

-----

It had been about three weeks since Usagi had left the Bebop; Faye claims she couldn't be happier, yet she spends the most time thinking. 

**Baby blue eyes…**

Jet had been even more cut off and yet found a way to maneuver his anger towards Faye three fold, convinced it was Faye's antagonism that caused Usagi to leave. He spent many an hour tending to his bonsai plant. 

**Bonsai needs undivided attention…**

Spike, had seemed least affected though. He went on, quiet, shady as ever, but something was definitely different in his eyes. They seemed, clouded over almost. Like, he was depressed. 

**I'll never find her…**

----- 

A television news show, hosted by news anchor, Tom Wiles, discusses the land carvings.

Tom smiled at the camera, "Now it's time for today's news topics. Today, we'll discuss the

mysterious land paintings that suddenly appeared in what was South America. As usual we have commentaries by a researcher of supernatural phenomena."

"Me, Yuuri Kellerman." She introduced. 

"Yuuri, about these land paintings..."

"Yes, yes. Well, I believe that is was some sort of a message." She declared.

"Um, whom would it be from...? Can it be...?" He asked, uncertain. 

"Aliens! It has to be from aliens!" She said at the top of voice. 

However, the land paintings were drawn by lasers coming from satellites. The police think it was a prank pulled by a hacker who got into the satellite. They already have a bounty of 8 million Wulongs on the culprit."

Jet and Faye begin to listen attentively.

Yuuri spoke again. "Listen carefully. The bounty of 8 million is a conspiracy of the government. Even if it WAS drawn by a laser, there IS the

possibility that aliens put a message into the brain of that hacker. Once again, the government is hiding something from us."

"I see... a secret cult..." Tom nodded, just deciding to go on with her child's play. 

"Yes! And THAT is the mystery that I have been searching for all this time!"

-----

"I'll pass on this one after all." Spike said, prepared to spend a day of lounging. A day of thinking…in quiet.  

_Oh…joy._

Jet's face turned a few shades past normal, "You're leaving me with…her?!" After figuring what had happened with Usagi three weeks ago. She had left without as much as a goodbye to him. He'd been irritable ever since, it had, obviously been Faye's fault…if she was nicer. Usagi would have stayed. Right? 

_Of course. _

The blonde had left, and she's been more distracted, why? She didn't know. But usually she's been busting her brain thinking about the one person who annoyed her most other than Ein and Jet. Usagi, she's affected the crew so many ways and she wasn't even here. Why? Damnit she was tired of thinking of her. She was tired of wondering who she was…but it did mean since she was tired of it, she didn't wonder. Who was she? 

_A dumb blonde. _

Spike smiled, "Nothing too wrong with it, other than the fact you two don't get along, she's all gung-ho about it."

Jet crossed his arms over his chest, "I'm not the one to be led around by women." 

"Even Usagi?" Faye asked, Jet was just about ready to kick her out into space when Spike shrugged. 

"Then lead HER around." He spoke as if it was the most obvious answer in the world, as if he was asking if there was water on Ganymede. This caused Jet to calm down a bit. 

"I'm even less likely to do that." 

Faye strolled over to them, "Well we all know that Jet. But anyway, it's easier to divide eight million between two than three." 

Jet shook his head, "Here we go." 

Faye ignored him, "What, are you afraid of hackers or something, is the big bad Spike afraid of something for once? I'm shocked." 

He shook his head, "No actually, I just hate tedious work like that." 

_Lazy ass. _

Faye thought in her head, "Guys cheap enough to hack into things are JUST depressed pale fatso's with glasses. And, moreover, I'm sure he's a demented otaku with smelly feet. It's a piece of cake!" 

Jet growled, ready to jump at Faye's throat, "Do you have something against someone like that…I mean they could have all been like that when you were young." 

Faye crossed her arms, "You're saying I look older than you?" 

"You can't tell a woman's age just by looking at her." He said defiantly.  

Faye slammed her foot into his, her heel jabbing down into his toe. 

"Exactly, you can't tell by just looking at me that I'm capable of this!" She yelled leaving the room. 

Jet winced, "That's ALL I know of you…" 

Spike grinned, "You guys make a good team." He teased.

Faye's shrill call was heard beyond the door, "Hurry up!" 

Spike smiled as Jet stood up. "I'll be expecting a souvenir from Earth." 

Jet shook his head; "You know nothing good comes from Earth anymore." 

Spike could only drift in his thoughts, Usagi had come from Earth. 

_*Flashback*_

_"I haven't seen Blondie in a while, do you know where she is, **Jet**?" Faye asked smirking as she sauntered into the control room. _

_Jet, now noticing he hadn't seen Usagi in quite a few hours, jumped over the perverted remark Faye had presented him with. "No…actually I haven't seen her."_

_"She's gone." Spike said emerging from the staircase. _

_Jet's blood ran cold, "What do you mean gone?" He asked standing. Spike new announcement had also caught Faye's undivided attention as well. _

_"Spike?" She asked. Spike wondered what he was going to tell them, she ran off to find his arch nemesis. And for what? _

**_To make babies? _**__

_He was thinking far too much like Faye now. But in the back of his mind, his subconscious was tugging in that direction. Not long after she arrived she had presented Spike with what she seemed was the most obvious answer out there. _

"Me and Vicious had more of a business agreement than a intimate relationship. Good Night Spike."

_Usagi said right there that she and Vicious weren't together…right? Right there in plain English…and she told him the truth…she had no feelings for Vicious… right?_

_ Was Usagi in love with Vicious? If she was, was kind of girl was she? She knew maybe even more about him than he did, his past…Vicious…he'd already suspected she knew more about Julia than she presented…but…could she, could she be in love with a monster like Vicious? _

_"Damnit Spike, where the hell is Usagi! What that hell do you mean?" It was only Jet's voice that called him out of the haze; obviously both Jet and Faye had been talking to him for the past minute or so._

_"Just what I said, she's gone. Usagi left. She isn't coming back." Spike wasn't sure she was, but she had promised him she would. _

_"Why?" Faye asked. Jet at that point erupted. _

_"What kind of question is that _**Faye**_?" He spat at her. He was so upset; all he could do was point fingers. _

_Faye immediately turned defense mode, "What the hell do you mean by that?" _

_"I think you know exactly I mean, if you had been nicer to her then she'd still be here! You're the only other woman on the ship!" Jet yelled. _

_Faye turned red, "Like that would have made much of a difference!" She retorted on the fact of being woman, "You where nice enough to her for all of us!" _

_"What's that supposed to mean!" He yelled outraged. _

_"Well maybe it means, SHE WAS FREAKED OUT BY HAVING SOME OLD GUY HITTING ON HER EVERY TWO SECONDS!" _

_"I was, not…what!" He was obviously flustered at the thought his feelings could have been that transparent. _

_Spike stood amidst the arguments, but every passing second, it was harder to concentrate on the two bickering adults. He was just thinking. How would someone like Usagi fall for someone like Vicious…?_

_And the question that plagued him so much was why did he care?_

_*End flashback*_

-----

"Slight rock showers. Chance of rock showers today is 20%. 39th district is cloudy. Chance of rock showers this afternoon is 10%." The weather report informed. 

Her head twisted and crooked, happily typing and moving her head to the sound of imaginary music. The crimson mane of hair on her head twitched with every movement her body inflicted, large yellow eyes were almost completely hidden by green goggles pressed against her face. The baby white tee shirt swung loosely and her legs kicked inside of the black spandex shorts that she wore. She was obviously happy, finding the object of her surfing the one thing she was a full time fan of. Bebop. 

"Bebop, Bebop here! Woo! Oh…? Newest crew of Bebop…gone?"

She giggled typing singing her own tune, "Usagi where arrrrreeee you?" 

In a split second Edward was sent flying into the air, clutching Tomato to her chest as an array of rocks flew from the sky and onto her once happy and peaceful spot.

The weatherman was heard again… "Chance of rock showers today is 90%..."

-----

_Of course you would have followed her…she's your one link to Vicious and after months of questioning and searching through her things, you'd think that you'd forget about her and leave your ship to go and find him? No. You'd follow her. _

**_Yeah I did. _**

****

_And she didn't go and find Viscous like she told you she would, did she?_

**_No she didn't. _**

****

_But where did she go? What planet is she on? _

**_Earth. _**

****

_Right, you traced the girl the day after she left. You told Jet and Faye you had no idea where she was. _

**_So what? _**

****

_You lie. _

**_And?_**

****

_You don't care do you?_

**_Not really, no. _**

****

True, Spike had followed her after she had left. He wasn't quite sure WHY she'd ended up on Earth but she did, and she definitely wasn't with Vicious and it was an intentional move.  But why? It was seemingly odd that she had not gone to find him, when it was obvious she wanted to. 

_To get away…she's not stupid, her subconscious told her you'd follow…_

**_Be quiet!_**

****

-----

She'd managed to escape a narrow barrage of rock showers with nothing more then two sprained fingers, they hurt, but she'd have to suck it up and be thankful that's all the pain she got out of two hundred lbs. of metal meteoroid crashing from the sky. She had gotten the two hurt joint by bounding up from the floor awkwardly, causing the pressure to buckle under her weight. 

"Ouch…"she cursed as the swollen pinky and ring finger of her left hand brushed against her skin slightly. 

"Nansenhokuba bijin, what's the matter?" It was a child's voice, bubbly and brimming with happiness. 

_…Nansenhokuba bijin… the woman with the restless soul. _

She turned abruptly. It was a child…no more than fourteen years old. "Who are you?" 

She'd seen many things…and bite size bounty hunters wouldn't be the strangest of the things. 

"Radical Edward!" She squealed and pounced onto her, Usagi regained her balance only by the skin of her teeth. 

"Radical Edward?" She asked trying to fan the child from swinging from her odangos. 

"Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky the fourth!" she sang. "Ed made that name for Ed! Nice to meet you!  Wee!" Her legs dangled as she swung from the large buns atop Usagi's head. 

"If you made it, how can you be the fourth?" Usagi puzzled as she came crashing to the floor from the pressure of the child who stood about four-foot-six-inches. 

-----

Another television news show discusses the land carvings.

The anchor opened his mouth as a picture of strange land carving appeared on the screen. "Well, about this incident, apparently, a pretty old artificial satellite has been hacked into. The investigation is taking longer than expected because the access code to that satellite has been long lost. Now, a commentary from Mr. Amjad." 

"Yes, yes." Mr. Amjad nodded in agreement. 

"About the relationship between Earth and the hacker—"

"Yes. Since the gate accident 50 years ago, the people of Earth have migrated underground as a result. To them, the "space network" created by computers is necessary for them to stay in contact with those living in space."

"I see. That's becoming a foundation to create outstanding hackers."

-----

"This is hopeless…" Jet complained as the twisted and turned through the tunnels of Earth. 

"Pipe down." Faye snapped. 

"You know as well as me it's hard. It's almost as if any information on this is…undetectable." He complained. 

Faye ignored him, "Okay, let's start with all the communication antennae." 

In a few seconds, Faye's computer had dozens of locations. 

The _Redtail_ and _Hammerhead _landed in an abandoned train station, Jet approaches a hippy. 

"That's probably Ed, man. I hear he's a huge guy, 2 meters tall. Supposedly, he used to be a basketball player."

"This is going to be a long day…" Jet said and looked down to check the next spot.

-----

Jet looked down at the box of Piyoko and places it on the living room table in front of Spike.  

"Here a souvenir from Earth." Jet presented rubbing his forehead. 

Spike reaches into the box and peered at closely…what _was_ it? "Is this food?" 

Faye butted in, "I doubt they have any sense, what-so-ever." She pronounced carefully. 

"Unlike you…I learned some information. They say that an unknown hacker named Radical Edward is the suspicious one." 

"It doesn't mean ANYTHING if he is unknown." Faye said crossing her arms over her chest. 

"I know, more or less." 

Spike unable to gain the willpower to eat the Piyoko he feeds it to Ein…just to test it out. 

He cocked his head to the side as Ein chewed, "It seemed okay…" 

"What kind of thing is it?" Faye asked reaching for the box of Piyoko. 

Jet grabbed the box from Faye, obviously stills sore about Usagi leaving, "Well, 2 meters tall. Ex-basketball player. Beautiful kid. And on top of it, a homosexual alien."

-----

"You live here all by yourself…Ed?" Usagi asked sitting opposite of Edward in the warehouse they resided in. Edward a\was busy atop a mountain of rubbish. 

"Ed lives here, with Ed!" she answered jumping down landing on her hands. "And tomato!" 

Usagi giggled softly, Ed was so vibrant…full of life…something like…

_Stop it…you'll make yourself cry._

**_I know…but what if want to cry…_**

****

_No you don't… you want to live and have a family…you don't want to cry._

She hadn't realized the lone tear on her cheek until Edward walked over to her and bent over. 

"What's this, wet stuff?" She asked cocking her head to the side in curiosity. 

Usagi sighed; ready to brush the tear away when she felt something warm slide up her cheek, she blinked as Ed lapped the tear from her cheek with her warm tongue. 

"Mmmm!" Edward squealed. 

Usagi blinked before bursting into a fit of giggles Edward sat back. 

"Ed can't eat anymore!" she sighed and curled up into a ball next to tomato. 

_Flashback_

_"Home sweet home, Omiomono?" Vicious asked as he passed, his warm breath tickling the back of her neck. She shivered as he stepped past her. _

_She looked toward the ground and stepped forward. The bloodstains were still there…her fingers traced the cool of the floor; her had been standing here…right here…_

_"You're a murder…" Usagi whispered as she felt him enter the room. _

_"You're an accomplice." He answered her, backed fully by his five or so bodyguards. She turned, whipping around in fury. _

_"I am not!…I…didn't help!" She demanded, fear and anger burning within her eyes. _

_"But you gave in submissively, Omiomono." _

_"No…I…couldn't have…I didn't!" She forced herself to believe. _

_He trailed a finger up her arm, "And that is just as bad as harboring a criminal…" _

_She felt the tears spill freely from her eyes and leaning against the cool glass she forced herself to stay standing. _

**_What have I done…? _**

****

**_I have chosen to…help…protect…and serve…Vicious? _**

_"No…" she shot back at him turned and looking him in the eyes, "I could have never helped you…I hate you!" _

_"Do you, Usagi?" he asked seriously. "Do you hate me?"_

_She stared at him a moment before turning away, cursing her entire being. _

_End Flashback_

The next morning, Usagi was awakened by the constant clicking of keys and blinking one eye open from the oncoming rays of sunlight that washed onto her from the window she could just catch Edward's wriggling form, goggles banded tightly to her head. 

"Satellite from days of old lead me to your access code!" She giggled. 

"Huh…? What's this satellite? Huh? What's this? The information isn't connected to Earth... It's connected only between satellites. And nobody hacked into it..." 

"Here…nobody here…" a digital-voice called, "Always alone."

Usagi didn't know how…but she could hear…everything. "A voice…inside head." 

"Who are you eh?" Ed called searching her screen desperately, "What did you just say?" 

"Who, you?" He asked, "Who are you?" 

Usagi now growing impatient snatched the goggles off of Edwards face and forced them down on her own. Edward sat back, frowning. 

"Heyyyyy…" 

"I am Usagi, a traveler…from Earth." She concluded. "Who are you?"

"I am the satellite control program on the D-135 artificial satellite." 

Now, Edward jumping onto Usagi's shoulders she wriggled the goggles from her face and placed them on hers. "What's that? Don't you have nickname. Then Ed will give you one. I know! Because you're a computer, you can be MPU! MPU! Cool name!" 

"Umm…" 

"Ed is Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV. Ed for short! Nice to meet you!"

-----

"Why did you doodle on Earth?" Edward asked curiously, Usagi sitting by, listening intently. 

"Long, long ago, long before the Gate Accident, Earth was a beautiful planet where many people lived. And back then on Earth, there were many pictures like this, and I always looked at them. I remembered those times and I tried to recreate at least the pictures." He answered. 

"I see, doodles like this were on Earth long ago, too."

"Yes. I recreated them with a 2% margin of error."

"MPU is good at drawing. Can Ed draw something too?"

MPU's connection with Ed begins to fade.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Usagi said and began to type. 

"This is... The police are putting out a jamming signal..." MPU called. 

MPU fades out.

"Hey! MPU! Heeey!"

-----

"So it was the satellite!" Usagi said after two minutes of concluding…reasoning between everything. 

Edward sat close by looking up at her. "MPU doodled on Earth, it wasn't me!" She said indignantly. 

"We have to tell someone before…" Usagi gasped. "You were just on that satellite, c'mon, I have some friends on the Bebop." 

Edward's eyes lit up, "Bebop!" she squealed.

-----

"What the…?" Jet asked the monitor flashed, his voice was caught in his throat…she…she…

"Listen! I found you're bounty!" Usagi called from the computer, she was happy to see them, but she didn't want to them to come and lock up Edward for something she hadn't done…or lock up Usagi for the same reason.

"Usagi…where are you!" Jet said to the computer as Spike and Faye appeared. 

"Why the hell did you run off!" Faye asked. Jet looked at her accusingly. 

"Don't look at ME like that!" She said looking back at him with the same emotion; they both, beginning to argue left Spike and Usagi to speak. 

"Usagi…" Spike said, and then shook his head, "You contact us." 

She nodded, looking up at Spike, although he was on a much smaller screen…she just felt so little as compared to him. "Yes…I did." 

"Why?" he asked and blinked, something was moving around behind her. 

"Because…" She felt the familiar blush of the first few days here creep onto her pale cheeks, then, she heard Edward and was pushed roughly to the side. 

"Bebop! The real culprit in the satellite-jacking wasn't a hacker!" Edward said coming onto the screen. 

"Since when do we have an interactive channel?" Spike now asked back to the task at hand from Usagi's fading voice. 

"No, that's not it. This is a real-time hack job." Jet said, his mind working a bit better with the sudden thrill Usagi was all right. 

"Who is this kid?" She looked around the room at the two men. 

"I'll send you MPU's data now." Usagi came back onto the screen and started to type. 

"Wait a minute Blondie, what is MPU?" 

"A friend of Ed's." 

"Wait, your holding out on us! Tell us, who is Radical Edward." Faye demanded. 

Then the child came back onto the screen, "Ed is Ed!" 

"I could tell you that…but you have to do me a favor in return." 

Faye spoke before she thought, "A favor? Yeah, yeah. Your big sister will listen to ya later. Come on, hurry it up."

-----

Spike now headed for the _Swordfish II _was stopped by Jet, "Hey Spike, it thought you said this wasn't your deal." He stopped, "It's not hard, just downright impossible to nail this thing, like playing baseball with no bat!"  

Spike smiled, "That's the kind of stuff I like." He said and jumping into the cockpit of the mono-fighter. 

-----

_Uzume_

She had bought it from a trader on Earth; it was in terrible condition, a regular mono ship, in bad need of an upgrading and fixings of wires…a retro, yet, terrible looking machine…when she had bought it.

It had a new white paint job yet it wasn't as good as any other ship which resided on the cockpit of the Bebop but it could hold it's own fairly well, it had been only half a hour since she'd broken into space and with the help of Ed she'd locked a tracker on MPU's electromagnetic waves, it wasn't long before the vision of _Swordfish II_ was seen fighting against the large satellite known as MPU. 

"MPU!" She yelled into the comm. 

"Friend of Edward." He chorused, lasers shot around at Spike's ship. He flew around desperately. 

"Stop this MPU! STOP IT!" She yelled seeing the harmful satellite continue. 

He connection now jammed she pounded on the ignition and took off toward Spike, a battered ship, she needed close-range connection. Come abck to **me__**

"Spike…" She said watching the look on his face; he looked down at her and gave her a slight smile, dodging the continuous blasts from MPU. 

"Usagi, happy to see you again, didn't think you'd ever come back to me," He said.

_Come back to **me**?_

"What should we do?" She said moving her body with the ship in every which way possible to avoid getting hit. 

"Hit 'em all." He answered, plain as day.

"All of them?!" Fay's voice screeched onto the comm. 

"Approach within twenty meters of MPU's, that way the other satellites can't attack!" Ed's pleaded to the Bebop crew. 

"That's going to be tough!" Usagi said as he dodged more of the blasts and firing more ECM's at the satellites, which completely missed.  

"Until then, Faye you can act as a decoy." Spike said, more of a statement then a command. 

"ME?" Faye's shrill cry was heard from across the comm. 

"Yeah, thanks for volunteering!" Spike said closing the connection was _Redtail_. 

"Usagi, I need some help with this, you up to it?" Spike asked. 

"Anything to help Spike." Usagi answered and _Uzume _crossed from in front of _Swordfish II_.

Before long, Usagi's skills of space travel were shown, and to say the least, surprised Faye and Spike both. She maneuvered the ship with little trouble, moving fluently throughout the black depths. 

_Move like water…_

Spike, now connected a wire with MPU. 

"Alright Ed it's all yours!" 

Ed managed connection with MPU. 

"MPU! MPU? MPU?!

"Oh, Ed! Ed, we meet again."

" They have a bounty on you, MPU!"

"Bounty?" MPU asked in confusion. 

"Yup, but if we copy you and let them catch that, you'll be all right."

"All right?" He asked again. 

"And you must be lonely there alone, MPU. If you come over here, there are lots of friends."

"Friends?"

"Here. It's not scary." Ed stated and began to type. 

Ed downloads MPU.

-----

Usagi sat with Ed, she was going back to the Bebop, and she had decided only minutes before Edward had told her that Faye had promised her a spot on the crew. She needed to face her fears, everything, at once. 

_Drown in my words Omiomono…and breathe into my eyes…_

"Viscous…" she said softly looking towards the ground, a stray, silver tear traveled down her cheek. Edward hopped around next to her on the rocky shore, typing away on Tomato. 

"Promise, promise!" She chirped. It wasn't long before the Bebop, quite roughly landed in front of them. 

-----

_Just Breathe…_

"Breathe…" She whispered as she took in the familiar aroma and surrounding of the Bebop. 

"Usagi…" was the small call from behind her. 

She turned and then was suddenly enveloped in a huge, from the strong man scent and muscle she could tell it was Jet, "You're back!" 

She nodded, "I know…" She whispered and parted from him, leaving him warm for her touch. 

"Why'd you leave Usagi?" Jet asked as she sat down in the living room, they were alone for once; Ein and Edward had bonded instantly and were currently venturing around the ship. 

She shook her head, she knew why she'd left, to find Vicious…and she didn't because she knew Spike was following her every move…the only question that needed answering at this point would have to be, why'd she return. 

"I left…because I had some business to attend to…I didn't want to hold you up, so I decided to take a small vacation…I'm back now." She said standing. Walking towards the hallway she was stopped by Jet's voice. 

"I'm glad you are Usagi." 

-----

"So you've decided to grace us with more, eh?" Faye called taking each attentive step forward inside th narrow hall as it spun. Usagi's head snapped up momentarily before she calmed again, Faye still put her on edge. 

"I supposed I'd come back…" Usagi answered sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck. 

"Why?" Faye asked sharply. 

"I…I missed you guys." Usagi answered, yes, she did miss them, but that wasn't the entire reason. 

"After all I've done to you…all I've said and all you've gone through you still came back?" Faye asked, trying to let Usagi see the twit that she was being. 

"What have you done to me, Faye?" Usagi asked in confusion. 

Faye almost fell back, "What do you mean, what have I done to you?!" Faye yelled in anger. 

Usagi looked confused, "I don't understand, you haven't done anything wrong." 

Faye took a step forward, "Listen Blondie don't patronize me, you don't have to be afraid, I know I've been a bitch to you, so what!?" She said defiantly. Her Gung-ho persona was diminishing with every word. 

This caused a warm smile from Usagi, "you've only done something you'd do…I can't change you. You've only been yourself." She replied and nodded to her with a kind smile and walked into the door. 

"Damnit…" Faye cursed momentarily forgetting the circling floor and came crashing onto her face.

-----

 "Spike…" Usagi called seeing him sitting back in his room, a cigarette perched between his lips, he lay back on the couch, staring up silently at the ceiling. 

His red eyes turned to her, yet he didn't say anything, he didn't move, he just lay there and then a smirk curled onto his face. "Miss me?" 

She blushed, and sat down, giggling, "Maybe." 

He nodded, "well I know that answer myself, if you didn't miss me…you wouldn't be here right now." 

She looked away, deciding to change the subject quickly. "_Uzume_ was damaged…I was wondering if you could help fix her with me…I don't know my way around ships too well other than flying them." 

He sat up, his long legs extending towards the side of the chair before they reached the floor. "Where'd you go?" 

"Home." She answered simply. 

-----

**_…See you Space Cowboy…_**

-----

**PLEASE READ AUTHRO'S NOTE!**

**YAYAYAYAYYAY! Finished, okay now, this is the true beginning of the story, my plot…WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS…will start to unravel ten fold. This is where the DRAMA really begins, we will find out about Usagi's dark past and about her deadly affair with Vicious. And to keep you guessing affair is many definitions, where she links with Spike, the Red Dragon Syndicate and for the next chapter, maybe even some hot and steamy, (not too steamy) romance between Usagi and Spike? **

**I expect reviews or this story with be DISCONTINUED, nothing more but a fading dream. Please, give me detailed reviews…long detailed and honest reviews. I appreciate that more than anything.**

**Review or Soft Blonde no more. LONG DETAILED REVIEWS.**


	6. Soft Blonde 06

_I am so ashamed…that last chapter…really…really…really…sucked. I hated it, simply, HATED IT! I promise none…NOT OF THE CHAPTERS WILL BE THAT WAY, EVER, EVER AGAIN. _

_I appreciate all your reviews, you all spoil me, from flames to thanks, I love you all. Now, for the long-earned romance I promised, this chapter shall bring…between Usagi and Spike is a maybe…but this is the newest chapter. _

_IMPORTANT NOTE PLEASE READ!_

_Okay, listen up; I JUST had to clarify a few things because people just aren't getting the picture. Five chapters into the story I'm not bringing out Usagi's full past, just bits and pieces to see if you guys can figure it before the full oncoming blow of explanation. If you have ever read the book 'Holes' or saw the movie then you'd see where I'm going, they didn't just call that book the name they did because all they did was dig. No, no, because of the basic outline of the story. Listen, the back-story for the characters came like TWELVE CHAPTERS LATER. It was only until the last chapter I got one of the permanent characters into the system. Usagi's back-story will not be revealed until at least chapter eight. _

_What keeps a good fanfiction going, huh? Intrigue, mystery and deadly entanglement that's what! I'm building that! From the second chapter people have been asking about Usagi…wait until we see her come in contact with Vicious first. And like I said in the last chapter. This and straightforward to chapter blah-count-blah is like the End of Harry Potter number four. THE REAL BEGINNING OF SERIES!_

_In the reading I'm obviously writing this story longer than like, six chapters! If this story was meant to stay in the single digits, chapter-wise do you have ANY idea how much I'm going to have to SHOVE in at the end or how long the last chapters would have to be…THE SIZE OF HARRY POTTER NUMBER FOUR! _

_Enjoy. _

_Maybe some light jealously and tension in a triangle with Spike-Usagi-Jet. Perhaps. _

_Thank you for all your support. _

**_[Ganymede Elegy] _**

-----

_*Flashback*_

_Jet holds a letter in his hand; a watch and rain…rain…let it fall. _

_A woman walks away underneath an umbrella. _

_*End Flashback* _

"Hey, Jet?" Jet almost fell back as he snapped from his haze; Spike's hand was waving in front of his face. 

"I'm asking you, how long until we land?" Spike asked again, his eyebrows knotted together. 

"How long have you been standing there?" Jet asked, checking the screen. 

"I've been here for a while." Spike answered pushing his hands into his pockets and shrugging lightly. 

Jet nodded as Faye walked into the control room, apparently shed been listening for a while. "What're ya spacing out about? Where's my bounty? Can't you land quickly so I can hand over that musty-looking fugitive?" 

Jet sighed, "Out of all the rooms on this ship you had to walk into this one?" He complained preparing to open a link with the Ganymede Police. 

Spike looked partly irritated, "You haven't even gotten permission to land yet?" 

_What was Jet doing for this long?_

"Don't rush me! You guys are so obnoxious." Jet complained, "And take care of the airport end for me." 

Usagi walked from the hanger, where the prisoner was held. On one of her legs was a grinning Edward, she'd just pulled off of Baker Panchorero, their current bounty and on the other was Ein, biting to the end of her laced and frilly sock. She was having a hard time standing and felt as if she would fall over any second. 

Faye crossed her arms over her chest, looking at the struggling Usagi briefly before turning away. "I thought Ganymede was your homeland." She grinned, "Perhaps were you thinking about a woman in the past that cried over you?" 

Usagi started to listen. 

Jet grumbled, "Just because Usagi came back doesn't mean the ends meet between me and you Faye." He was obviously annoyed with her questioning about his personal life, especially in front of his current love interest, Usagi. 

Faye smirked, "Or maybe it was a woman who made YOU cry, is that is Jet?" 

"Didn't you hear me when I said you were being obnoxious!" Jet yelled as the connection with an old friend Donnelly came through. Faye smirked and brushed his off with a light sashay of her hips and she walked from the room…yet right outside, listening intently from the staircase. 

"Ganymede Police." 

"Donnelly?" Jet asked with a smile. 

"Oh, Jet! Jet, it's you! There is no mistake. The top of your head's gotten rather lonely, but it's still Jet all right!" He said slapping his knee and laughing with his old companion. 

"Long time no see, Donnelly." Jet said nodding. 

"I'm surprised that you're working around here. Has it been...Seven years? Eight? What the hell's up with you to come back so suddenly?" He asked pulling off his hat and wiping off his forehead. 

"I want to hand over a bounty. Wanted ad number EX41285. Baker Panchorero."

"To think you're a bounty hunter. You, who was called the Black Dog, a mad dog that never let go of things bitten into?" He laughed throwing his magazine over his shoulder.

"I thought YOU had already retired." Jet said as Usagi inched closer to the screen, curious bunny. 

"Hey, I'm still an active officer! Don't judge things on YOUR time scale, you Rip Van Winkle, you." Donnelly laughed. 

"Seems you've settled down there Jet?" Donnelly asked as Usagi stood behind him. 

Jet looked over his shoulder and couldn't help the blush that crept onto his cheeks, "Donnelly…" 

He looked her over and tipped his hat, "Mrs. Black." 

"A complete 360 degree turn from…what was her name Jet…Yeah, oh yeah! Alisa!" Donnelly nodded. 

"She's got a little joint in the port of Marvis. A small bar called 'La Fin.' But in this recession, I hear she's got a lot of debts to pay. I'm sure there are a lot of problems for a woman trying to live alone." 

Jet stared at the floor as Usagi put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

-----

Spike collected the money from the bounty onto a card and split it between Usagi and Faye. 

Faye smirked, "Sense of justice and duty, eh?" She asked Spike as Usagi looked on. 

"First time in a while he's home, of course he's going to visit her." Spike said, annoyed with all Faye's points of views, grabbing Usagi's hand and pulling her along. 

"You're totally wrong if you think your old woman still thinks about you." Faye said. 

Spike's hand tightened considerably around Usagi's smaller one as his muscles tightened. "You're totally wrong yourself if you think every other woman in the galaxy thinks like you." Spike's voice his voice clipped.

"Spike?" Usagi asked in confusion as he dragged her along be the hand.

"What is it?" 

"What does Faye, mean by that…what girl? Is Jet…?" Usagi asked, blushing, she would have felt nosy asking but for the oddest reason…she felt almost, jealous. Inclined to asked, and she felt no shame.

"No…" He said lighting a cigarette and pushing it between his lips, "No, he's not married, but he'd gone to see an old friend of his." Spike said to her, he felt…weird…tell her about the romantic status of Jet.

"A girl?" Usagi asked as he tugged her along through the large torrents of people throughout Ganymede. 

"Yes, a girl. But I won't say any more…not my business." 

"But Spike I need to know!" Usagi complained. 

Spike stopped tipping off the light ash from his cigarette, "Why?" 

Usagi stopped, that was an excellent question…why did she care so much about the marital status of her fellow crewmate, Jet Black?

Spike looked at her zone for a moment and in the back of his mind, without so much as an echo. The last strands of his heart snapped.

_I…have a crush on…Usagi?_

-----

Jet looked about the bar, the sun was going down, and the dimly lit bar was clean, all the chairs put up on the tables. He looked around closing his eyes and breathing deeply, oh yeah, she was here. 

"We are closed." A man said coming up from behind the bar and glaring at Jet. 

"I'm not here to buy anything, I'm here for Alisa." Jet replied to him. 

"And…you are?" He asked cocking a brow. 

"Jet Black." 

"Alisa isn't here." Alisa emerges from the back room.

"Jet…that can't be…" she covered her mouth with her hands briefly. "It's okay Rhint…he's my guest." Rhint followed Jet with his eyes until he left through the door. 

Jet blushed, she was still as beautiful as ever…but he was not here to beg her to take him back, not at all. "You…don't mind?" 

Alisa smiled, "I don't mind," He reached for a cup looking at Jet, "You want a glass right?" 

She poured him a drink and handed it to him, he took it thankfully, "I guess you're my last customer, I'm closing shop. The number of ships decreased and this area has gone desolate. I'm thinking of moving to a new town." She said looking at him. He had changed, a bit balder up top…but still…Jet. 

Jet looked at her a moment, thinking quietly to himself, "Are you all right? On the new island cities, mortgage is expensive. Are you able to manage all that?" 

As shook her head smiling, giving him a V. "It's just like you to ask something like that. I'm planning to change myself in that new town. Rhint is here with me…"

Jet looked down into his drink, "That guy that was here before?" 

Alisa smiled lightly, "Jet…is there something on you're mind?" 

Jet smiled lightly, "Yeah." 

"To tell the truth I already have 3 kids." 

Jet stares at her and his eyes bulge…he couldn't…breathe…Alisa stared to laugh. 

"I'm just kidding. It was a joke! Rhint is just my boyfriend. How are you doing? Have you gotten married yet?" She asked. 

Jet thought of Usagi, he put down the empty glass, his eyes glazed over for a minute, Usagi, to him would be the ideal life. He thought about the rest of his crew. "I live and wander with a group of weirdoes. And on top of it, I'm a bounty hunter now." He put the watch on the counter. 

"Alisa…do you remember?" 

-----

"Uhh…what am I supposed to do?" Usagi asked holding the wrench as Spike lay underneath Swordfish. 

"Nothing…just hand me the tools." Spike told her again, in agreement for helping her with _Uzume_, she'd help him with _Swordfish II_. She wore white overall and a pink paperboy hat. 

"Hammer." He asked, Usagi handed him the wrench. He shook his head sliding from underneath the ship. "Maybe we should take a break." Usagi who hadn't broken a sweat from just handing tools plopped down breathing out in relief. 

"Please, lets!" She said lying on her back. 

Spike smirked at her antics, "Usagi, did Vicious…ever bring up…someone in his past, at all? Did he ever say anything about himself?" Spike asked looking at the small blonde next to him. 

Usagi shut her eyes briefly, "Vicious…" She breathed as if his name a brisk breeze in the summer. 

"Yes Vicious." Spike said with a hardened look. She was…reminiscing. Her eyes glazed over and she smiled as if she was…as if…

_She was content thinking about him?_

"No…" she said coming out of her haze. Spike stared at her for a moment. 

"You're in love with him." He confirmed more than asked.

Usagi's eyes snapped and she just stared at him a moment

"…Spi—" 

The call that came through interrupted them; Spike noticed the half guilty look on Usagi's face and went to answer it, seeing Donnelly. 

"Where's Jet?" He asked Spike. 

Spike shrugged it off, "Doing personal stuff." He answered lighting a cigarette. 

Usagi came up behind him, "Why do you ask?" She wondered, she'd get to the bottom of all this. 

Donnelly was under the distinct impression that little hot tamale was Jet's wife/girlfriend. "You're his partner right?" 

She came with her first impulse, Spike stared on confused as she was, "Yes, yes I am." 

_Damn it Usagi are you in love with Jet or Vicious…?!_

"I've got news on a bounty. This hasn't been publicly broadcast yet. Rhint Celonias. A thug in the port of Marvis. Last night, he contacted financial broker Law Rentzuo. This guy was another tough guy but he was killed!" 

"Where do I come in?" She asked tipping her head to the side. 

"Rhint is Alisa's gigolo. I thought I'd warn you guys." 

Usagi stepped back, feeling hurt, why did she feel this way…? Jet was the nicest person she'd ever met, and now, was she, could she be…falling for him. Alisa, this Alisa girl was obviously Jet's past. She wanted to speak but the tears welled up in her throat, afraid to let it crack she kept her mouth shut. 

Spike seeing her discomfort got right down to business, "And how much is the bounty?" 

-----

"Back then, when I got home from work, you always waited for me... That was all I needed... But that day, when I came home, only that watch was left and a small note with one word, "farewell"... For some reason, I didn't feel sad. It just lacked reality... And I gradually felt something inside me go numb... After 6 months, I made a bet with myself. If you didn't return by the time this clock stopped. I didn't come here to blame you... I just wanted to know... why you disappeared back then." Jet said, honestly looking, awaiting an answer. 

"You seem to think that time on Ganymede had stopped. That's a story from long ago... I've... forgotten it. I don't need time that stands still. Farewell, Jet..." Alisa said looking away from him. 

Jet stood nodding to her and leaving. 

-----

"Maybe we should stop and ask for directions." Usagi called from _Uzume_. They had been searching for _La Fin _for just past an hour and her legs were growing somewhat numb. 

"No…we won't!" He said for the eighth time. He could find it, he new he could. 

Usagi sighed irritably and dived downwards. 

"Hey, where are you going!?" He called after her diving down as well. 

"I'm tired of the fact that you're trying to be all macho around me Spike Spiegal." 

He almost coughed, it was true, he was trying to show off.

_I'm not trying to win her over…I know that much…right? _

-----

Rhint looked worriedly at Alisa as he paced around the room, this couldn't happen he was just protecting her, he was just a kid!

"A bounty hunter…? Could that mean…?" 

"Rhint…" Alisa tried to calm him down as best as she could but he ignored her. 

"He's after me!" He cried in exasperation, fury, sadness and worry, "I have a bounty on my head…It's all over!" 

Alisa stood walking next to him, her brows furred, "It's not your fault... It's because I borrowed money from a guy like him... and you protected me..."

"I can't be saved if I get caught. I... killed a guy..."

"Let's get outta here... Let's get outta here, just the two of us!" Alisa said grabbing to his shirt. 

-----

Rhint and Alisa board a motor boat with all the belongings they could manage.  Spike swoops down in _Swordfish_; Usagi right behind him in _Uzume _finds them and chases after them.

"This must be because I have good karma... Sorry, but it's business." Spike said with a light smirk perusing the motorboat.

_Man…she's pretty…_Usagi thought looking at Alisa, half in awe, half in envy. 

Spike fires warning shots at the boat. "They _always_ choose to do it the hard way it seems!" 

Rhint gives Alisa the wheel taking out his own gun. "Steer for me, please."

Rhint fires shots at Swordfish. The boat goes under a skyscraper. Spike pulls Swordfish up at the last minute, scaling the skyscraper. At the same time, Hammerhead flies over the building. Swordfish and Hammerhead nearly collide.

" Hey? What's wrong!?" Jet asked, Usagi's heart soared. 

She came up near Hammerhead as quickly as she possibly could, opening connection. 

"I'm after a bounty worth 1.8 million." He called with a grin. 

" What?!"

" Here, I'll send it to you." He said still hot on the trail of Rhint. 

Jet receives the bounty data on Rhint.

"He's a bounty?" Jet asked glancing from time to time to his screen back to the area of Rhint and Alisa.

[Last chance Jet Black, Go.]

"Yeah, a secret bit of info from Donnelly. He apparently killed a loan shark."

"Damnit!" Rhint curses. He continues to fire shots.

"I'll do this. You can go back." Jet said.

"You're not going to let him go, are ya?" Spike cocked a brow. 

"This is the land where I was a cop. I'm the Black Dog, once I bite, I never let go. I have no regrets about her, but I'll settle this score on my home turf."

_Swordfish II_ flies away as _Uzume _glided up to him, "Sense of Justice and duty huh?" She asked half sadly. 

Jet nodded to her as she flew farther away from him, "Go with Spike Usagi."

"Come back to me Jet." Usagi pleaded, her eyes brimming with tears, Jet stared at her for a moment, and nodded. 

"I will…I promise you that much."

-----

Usagi sat nervously pacing in the control room of the Bebop, anxiously waiting Jet's return. Spike sat back in a chair, half asleep, half interested in what his crewmate was doing. 

"Jet…please don't be hurt…please…" She whispered biting her fingernails. 

"Sit down before you make a hole in the floor." Spike said peeking at her with one eyes open, "If anyone can handle himself its Jet, alright Bunny. Chill out for you sprout grays over it." Spike assured. 

"Maybe you're right." She said leaning against the back of his chair and closing her eyes in concentration. 

_What's this…this…feeling I'm getting…?_

Spike looked at her for a while, yeah, she was pretty. She wasn't just pretty but she was gorgeous. Gorgeous, the perfect word to describe it. But it wasn't her beauty, because she didn't gallivant in outfits like Faye did, she was usually covered up, and she didn't wear much makeup. 

_Her eyes…_

_It's not right… not after you've been searching…you've promised yourself to Julia! Bastard!_

Logic came crashing down around him, Usagi couldn't compare to Julia…no where near her beauty…

"Jet!" It was the call that slapped him from his thoughts and when he looked up he saw her, head buried into Jet's chest, crying. 

"I was so afraid!" She wailed to him, body trembling, she was under the direct impression that since he wasn't too much of an active member on bounties; as what she saw; he couldn't fend for himself all too well. 

He stiffened, what was he supposed to, giving Spike somewhat of a pleading look, Spike stood, glancing once more, almost coldly at the two before leaving. 

Jet let his arms wrap around Usagi. "Don't cry, dry your tears, I'm alright…I promised you didn't I?" He asked with a smile.

She pulled away wiping the tears with the back of her sleeve and smiled lightly, nodding, "Yes…yes, yes you did. I just…I didn't know what I'd do if I…if I lost you… me and you have grown very close Jet." 

Jet nodded, in complete understanding, the feeling with mutual but a bit deeper than she expected. "Do…you know what happened?" He asked.

_Flashback—Jet's Story to Usagi._

_"Can you hear me!" Jet yelled, "Stop the boat now!" _

_"Jet?"_

_The Hammerhead chases the boat through a tight alley and into an open area. Jet fires Hammerhead's harpoon at the boat's propeller. The boat crashes ashore. Jet lands Hammerhead and approaches Alisa and Rhint. Alisa points the gun at Jet. Jet starts to walk forward._

_"Stay away! Please, let us go! There are other bounties to find!" she yelled, exasperated. _

_"Even if I let you go, someone will come for you someday... If you run, you will become an accomplice." _

_"Stay away!" She yelled trying to block out his words. _

_Jet desperately tried to reason with her, "You still have time."_

_Alisa fires a shot at Jet. "Don't worry about me anymore!" She yelled trembling and holding the gun. _

_Alisa fires three more shots at Jet; she falls crying almost, a broken woman. Jet continues to approach her, walking without a thought._

_"You were like this back then, too... You decided everything. And you were always right... When I was with you, I never had to do anything. All I had to do was hang on to your arm like a child, with no cares in the world. I wanted to decide how to live my life by myself. Even if that was a mistake..." She said softly. Jet nodded, he got what he came for, he wanted her reason for leaving. _

_Alisa drops the gun. Rhint tries to run away. Jet grabs him._

_" Let go! I don't wanna go to prison! Let go!! Help! Help me, please!" Rhint yelled struggling against the mechanical arm of Jet. _

_Jet punches him in the face. "Be strong... and protect her..."_

**_Later. _**

_The police arrive and arrested Rhint._

_"Self-defense seems to be how they see it. What are you going to do now?"_

_"I won't be going anywhere anymore. I will wait in my store... for Rhint."_

_"It won't take long... because time is flowing along." He said with a nod._

_Jet waves good-bye and walks away. He takes one last look at the old watch, miles and tosses the old watch into the water._

_End Flashback—Jet's Story to Usagi_

"I came to ask her, why she left me…I didn't come to ask her back…" Jet took a deep breath, "When Alisa left I was broken and when you left I was devastated. I figured if people I loved kept leaving, something must have been wrong with me…I needed to know and the only person I could ask was Alisa. That's why I came to find out what I did wrong, so I wouldn't mess up this time." Jet spoke softly. 

Tears brimmed her eyes as she stared downwards, Jet stepped forward, holding her chin softly and tilting her head to look at him. She stared at him, unsure, he were written with mixed feelings. Jet leaned down, pressing his lips softly against her own, capturing the moment. 

**_Authors Note_**

****

I think this chapter came out fairly well, guys, it's all in the plot. Trust me, You will love it, **THIS IS A SPIKE—USAGI STORY.** It's all in the plot I have crafted for you all so lovingly. Please review, please review long, please review hard. 

--Boom

Kikenbutsu 


	7. Soft Blonde 07

_Well needless to say, I'll be A bit stricter with the whole, you know, grammar and spelling and typo thing. I would like to dedicate this chapter to my editor and my best most wonderful special pal Blitz Gundam, Kagona please check out his and her stories, they truly are wonderful! _

_I'm so happy you guys were honest, I mean I love you all but please, please try and review a bit longer…you know. Please…like better rounded? Perhaps? _

_Spike had to rethink him and Usagi's relationship because of Jet because, one, he isn't sure he should put himself out on the line for someone who is possibly in love with his best friend and two, he isn't sure he should fall in love with someone who is in love with his arch enemy or the BIG three, he isn't sure he is ready to fall in love, or like for that matter someone who is confused between his best friend and his arch nemesis._

_Oh and Spike, did not witness the kiss between them. _

_Any who, this is where the crap starts, Vicious slithers his way back into Usagi life and this time he is much more than a flashback, Usagi's past is almost fully revealed and you get to see some tension between Usagi and Spike and some jealous glances at Jet. _

_So, everyone, I can TELL has been yearning for this chapter, once and for all…_

Jupiter Jazz 

**Part 1.**

Vicious and the Bunny… 

-----

"Someone open a window…" Usagi complain sinking even deeper into the tub filled with cool water and half melted ice cubes, The heat of the muggy and hot ship was unbearable… she submerged into the ice water. 

_*Flashback*_

_Jet leaned down, capturing her lips with his own. Her body was not up to speed with her mind, and neither was up to speed with what was happening, she backed up, almost tripping over the controls in the process, she hadn't given any of this any thought at all. Jet, kissing her? It wasn't a repulsive thought just, odd and extremely unexpected. _

_"I'm sorry…" She whispered to him, what could she do, she couldn't look at him while she just refused his affection. Her face went hot with ashamed tears and blushing cheeks, she turned from him._

_Jet was unable to move, not again, he wasn't going to be denied of a happy life again. Usagi was certainly all he had dreamed up of and more, he loved her, more than anything. "Usagi…I'm sorry… I didn't mean to hurt you in any way."_

_Usagi turned back to him, "You didn't hurt me, I hurt myself, Jet don't waste your time and heart on me…I'm bad news."_

_It was all she could manage out before she turned and ran from him, leaving him biting his lower lip in agony. _

_*End Flashback*_

She hadn't talked to Jet since then, four days ago. They just now, act like polite strangers not like two people who had shared a kiss only 96 hours ago. 

"This is far too complicated…" She breathed emerging fully and gasping, not even realizing her lungs had been dearly screaming for air, "To think what Rei would say."****

[Usa-chan! How OLD is this guy? C'mon meatball head he reminds me of ojiisan…]****

And then, her dear sweet friend Ami.****

[Usagi-chan, you know…you should just focus on more important things, like your daughter's birthday party, it's only eight months away you know…]****

Minako who always managed to get the most popular sayings incorrect.   


[Well, I always thought you had quite the INTERESTING taste, Usa-chan, but like they say, you can't tell a magazine by it's pages!]

Makoto, who had sempais galore. 

[Well he certainly doesn't look like my old sempai but I suppose if you like him, and he makes our Queen happy, we are too.]

"Chibi-Usagi…" She breathed, letting the tears flow, her eyes closed imagining the young seven year old, face as pink as her own hair, eyes burning with fury. 

[You meatball head! I hope you're not trying to cheat on Mamo-chan!]

  
Mamoru   
[I love you Usagi Tsukino.] 

It was only Spike's voice that had awakened her from her thoughts, a angry call of, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN FAYE EMPTIED OUT THE SAFE?!"

-----

_It'd be hard for me to do if I saw your faces so I'm leaving without seeing you one last time. PLEASE don't look for me._

_--Faye_

Usagi reread the letter, running a hand over her chin. Faye was gone? Anyone who had been in her shoes would have certainly exulted, but she could not. She was going to dearly miss Faye, and surprisingly despite all of their appearance and personality differences…

She felt a **direct** connection coming from her. 

"She's really gone eh?" Usagi asked for the millionth time, looking at Spike and putting down the letter. They were all towering over Ed's computer, as if they could see anything, Ed, had special goggles, mind you, so her screen was all hearts and stars while she was surfing. 

"Yes…and the antifreeze… and so is the loot…" Spike said with a sigh. 

"Good riddance…" Jet cursed under his breath as Ed continued to type. 

"7…8…9…hello!" Was Ed's excited call as she typed madly at the keyboard… 

Spike rubbed his temples in sheer irritation, first he was hot and now he was poor, not quite the mix. "Are you REALLY looking for Faye…?" 

"1…0…1…1!" She called again.

"…Or are you just fooling around?" 

Jet sat down; he had been studying Usagi carefully for the past few days and while she had been oblivious to his presence he was nearly reduced his bonsai to oregano, or parsley, whichever comes first and although Faye had just left, he hadn't had the energy to fight with her.

"Ohhh! Boom!" Edward called smiling and falling backwards. 

Spike perked up, the thought of his money drawing him ever more closer. "You found her?!" 

"Let's see who this is…codename…_JULIA_!" 

Simultaneously Usagi and spike's heart skipped the same beat, yet, Usagi, couldn't exactly exclaim the way he did, but damnit she wanted to. 

"What? Where the heck is that signal coming from!?" He asked shaking her. 

Edward's head bobbed up and down and Usagi feared for her neck as Jet looked on without comment but completely engrossed in the idea girl had Spike running, it had happened, many times before, Spike running for a girl. But not like this. 

"Lemme see… seems pretty close…looks like…the Blue Crow on Callisto." 

The computer screen went blank as Spike asked again, "Where is it going to?" 

"It got disconnected…" Edward said with disappointment. 

Usagi watched on. Julia, blonde hair, blue eyes, twenty-seven years old, former lover of now-leader of the Red Dragon Syndicate, Vicious…she knew the basic facts but nothing else. She had rocked Spike and the Red Dragon Syndicate. 

Powerful woman. 

Spike was gone from the room and she could faintly hear Edward's child like muses, "There aren't any women on Callisto." She couldn't help but get up and run after them, following closely behind. 

"Spike, stop! That is a common woman's name!" He beckoned to his comrade, acting nuts about some girl. "What about Faye?"

"Leave her." Spike said not moving his eyes towards Jet. He spoke as if it was the most transparent thing in the world. 

"This is a lawless area Spike, a woman certainly can't wander about here alone!" 

"Feeling sympathetic?" He asked. 

"Plenty of sympathy... for the money she ran away with! Spike!" Jet exclaimed jumping in front of him, but to his dismay, Spike just walks around him.

Spike reached the hanger and prepped the ship for takeoff. Jet looked on, Usagi stopping just behind Jet. 

"I'm going to go look." Spike said.

"What?" Jet asked, half in disbelief and half in confusion. 

"I'm going to look for my woman. You can look for that other woman." He said looking towards Jet, he could tell this was going to get ugly.

Usagi stood, biting her fingernails in worry, she had to go too. 

"You're going to have nothing to do with this? That's right. We only go so far. Even if you come back, there won't be a place for you here." Jet yelled, forgetting Usagi.

"Can't do anything about it. I'm sure you're not as lonely now that you have more strange roommates." Spike yelled back. 

"Me? You stayed here just for that reason? You're being stupid! It's been three years since I teamed up with you. But I never knew you looked at me that way! I was under the impression that YOU were the lonely one!"

"Well we got rid of that misunderstanding." Spike boards Swordfish II, not looking back at anyone. 

"Good riddance! Now we'll have more money for food! I never did understand you, even to the very end!"

"I don't understand, either." Spike said softly, nodding towards Usagi. 

"So long!"  Swordfish Il takes off for Callisto.

-----

Usagi's small boots crunched underneath the snow, out of all things, she loved snow, and it made everything seem so peaceful, even when it really wasn't. She loved that, because for the past fifty or so years, it really wasn't that peaceful. 

No women, other than Faye who stuck out either way, dressed in deep rosy pink, it was hard for one not to notice her. Julia, the woman who seemed to hold to key to everyone's answers, and the possession that everyone yearned for, Vicious her body, Spike, her heart and Usagi—

"You're going to mess up all my business, women are limited around here you know!" A drag queen dressed in green yelled at her as she passed. She, surprised from the sudden shock, tripped over, falling at a man's feet. 

She stood up, shaking her head free of snow and ice pieces, "I'm sorry… I was startled and I…" 

"No need to explain Omiomono."

-----

"What are you doing here?" Usagi asked him, yet she didn't look at him, no, she couldn't look into his eyes. 

"I've been looking for you of course, you couldn't have forgotten how much you **meant** to me now could you?" He stopped smirk, yet he didn't look at her, "You're my life's center." 

She sat in the zip craft, eyes towards the floor and focusing on the cold that the ship didn't shield her from. 

How to get away…?

"I knew I'd find you this way Omiomono, it was careless of you to think that she was here…on Callisto…to single herself out and draw attention to herself as you have." He shook his head looking out the window. 

She knew she was foolish thinking that Julia was here! Why! Why hadn't she stopped to reason, Julia was a women on a man's planet! She would cause attention to herself. 

But he mind wasn't on Julia, her mind was on Chibi-Usa, Chibi-Usa, her innocent lovely, sweet daughter who was trapped by him!

"Leave me alone; leave my family alone!" She yelled at him throwing a punch, which he grabbed with ease. He pulled her closer to him as she struggled; his lips were inches, no, centimeters from her own.

"Well if it helps, I missed you."

-----

Spike's fists clenched as the man spoke, obviously unaware to the rising temperature of Spike's face. 

"Julia…yeah…sound's like some easy wench's name…" He bobbled, his face broken in from the harsh beating Spike had put him through. 

The anger overthrew him and he let his fist connect firmly with the man's face, his head bounced, and he closed his eyes. 

"Yeah…doesn't it." He spoke thinking of the beautiful blonde that had his heart. 

__

Vicious… how low can you get! Using Julia's name to peddle Red-Eye… He won't get away with this!

His mind drifted, he didn't know why to another certain blonde that affected him in so many ways... 

__

Usagi.

----- 

"Why'd you bring me here?" Faye asked, laying down and thawing from the bitter cold outside. She had followed Gren after he had pulled her away from the fighting scene only minutes before. 

"You said you were a fairy. Why'd you come with?" He said with a warm smile on his face. Faye flushed. 

__

Sure is cute…

She thought a moment, "'cause I don't have no where to stay." 

He smiled pouring some tea and handing it to her, "You trust me that easily?"

"You said you weren't interested in women." She reminded him holding the steamy mug and hovering it underneath her red nose. 

"But I could steal your money and kill you." He said, but she knew he wouldn't, not with a face like that. 

"That's fine…" She looked down into the brown liquid, "I've lived longer than I seem." 

Faye put down the cup and looked at a small music box next her, her long fingers began to wind it but nothing happened. It was almost too quickly; he snatched it from her grasp. She looked up at him, confused. He smiled.

"It's broken. You came to such a slummy neighborhood all by yourself?" He asked. 

She smiled faintly, "I'm alone. I don't want comrades and it's not worth having any... end up worrying about things I don't have to... You know, 'coz I'm such a good woman... All the guys end up fighting for me. They often say that humans can't live alone... But you can live pretty long by yourself. Instead of feeling alone in a group it's better to be alone in your solitude. When I'm dealing with them, it's nothing but trouble and I don't get squat out of it... So it doesn't matter if I'm there or not..." Her smile had long faded toward a confused frown when she finished. 

He nodded and looked at her in her face a moment when she finished, "You got scared of loosing them, so you distanced yourself from them." 

She stopped, thinking. 

Usagi…that damned blonde was bothering her again. But somewhere in the back of her mind she was thinking, yeah, it could be possible that she did see the young blonde haired ditz/flake/loser to be a friend. But she pushed that thought away just as quickly as it came. 

"You're weird." She said quickly, it couldn't be possible, she couldn't consider ever…

"Think so?" 

Faye shook her head; "I don't know why I'm talking to you about this... I feel like I'm in a confessional... Have you ever had experience as a minister?"

"No…"

The space between their to face begins to lessen and lessen, with a sharp intake of breath, Faye sneezed right in his face.

"Take care." 

"Didn't I tell you before?" Faye smirked, "I'm already a fairy." 

-----

"I don't want to do this Vicious please don't let me do this please…" Usagi begged at the zip craft hovered over the white ground and then settled down. 

"Shh…" Vicious cooed to her as he stepped out of the zip craft before her. 

"He'll be finding us soon." Vicious said to her.

"No…please…" Usagi said grabbing the gun from Lin. 

Vicious looked to Lin stepping out of the zip craft, "Get your gun and come out."

----

Spike looked, Vicious…Vicious was right there, right in front of him. His fingers itched to get the gun and shoot! Shoot for all the times he had hurt him, shoot for all the times he had hurt Julia, shoot all the times he had hurt Mao Yen Rai and shoot for all the times he had hurt Usagi. 

__

'No! Usagi is old news…'

"You're not dating Julia behind my back are you?" Spike asked with a small smirk emerging from the shadows. 

"S-sir Spike!" Lin exclaimed, obviously surprised to see the boy from his past. 

Spike grinned lightly at the boy, "Hey Lin…you've gotten pretty big."

Vicious stared at Spike, cold whipping his white hair about his face. He looked calm, serene almost.

Usagi watched from inside the ship, she had calmed down. 

__

*Flashback*

Usagi took the gun from Lin, crying hysterically. They were going to kill Spike tonight if she didn't do anything; they were going to shoot him right through the chest while she distracted him. 

"Give my the gun Miss Usagi." Lin said holding out his hand. 

"I can't…Lin…you don't want to do this do you…no, you don't want to. It was almost too quickly, her long fingers stitched over the gun, replacing the silver bullets with less…harmful ones. 

Rubber bullets. 

She felt Lin gently take the gun from her fingers; she held the bullets in her hands.

*Flashback*

"Spike…run…" Usagi whispered. 

Lin raised the gun; he looked, cold and emotionless. Lin was once Spike's many comrades, and now, he looked at him like a complete uncaring stranger. 

"Lin…" Spike whispered. His heart hurt.

The bullet erupted from the gun as Usagi ran from the zip craft.

"Spike!" She yelled running past Vicious and dropping by his side, looking over him worriedly. His eyes weren't closed yet and he stared up at her, a small smile breaking onto his lips. 

"Usagi…you're here…if I fall asleep wake me up?" 

She looked down at him; she hated to see him in pain although he was alright.

__

 "This is all a dream…" 

She leaned over, instinct taking over her body. She breathed in, hovering inches above his face. She could smell him; feel him almost, with the lingering scent of soap and…what is that? Watermelon? She felt almost bad stealing but she couldn't resist. Lowering her face she let her lips press against his own. 

Yet she couldn't go on any longer as she pulled away, the electric shot that surged through her body lit her on fire almost, she pulled away, face flushed and lips slightly parted.

"Omiomono…" Vicious called calmly standing above her and the unconscious form of Spike, something flickered across his eyes, but Usagi the small bunny was looking at the young bounty hunter, completely and utterly mesmerized. It was jealously, but it disappeared just as fast. 

"I have a deal to make you." Vicious spoke as she stood, she could feel Lin's angry gaze on her. 

"I don't want anything to do with you, or any of your deals." She said indignantly. She wouldn't be his mole for much longer, she had promised herself that after she watched Spike fall. 

He smirked a bit, "it isn't up to you or I if you want Spike to live, it's up to the memory of your daughter." 

She almost fell backwards; she had almost forgot her whole reason for continuing to live. 

"Chibi-Usagi…" She breathed, she looked at Spike tears forming in her eyes, her loyalties lay with her daughter. Her flesh and blood. 

"What do you want me to do?" Usagi asked, broken, she could beat him, never, she could never beat Vicious. It was sickening, because she had all these friends now, ad what was she forced to do? Either kill them or lead them to their deaths. 

And as much as she liked Spike, her daughter was her top priority; the bond between them couldn't be stronger. 

"When he wakes up, you're going to stay with him, eventually you're going to lead him, to me." He said, his voice was calm like the soft whisper that the snow flurried wind carried. "No tricks Omiomono." He said, but it sounded akin to a stern warning.

"I…" She looked to the floor, her eyes clouding over a bit before nodding. "I will." 

He nodded, "Alright, now, listen carefully to the instructions..." 

-----

**Alright, another chapter down, this one was relatively short but so very important, only because the episode was cut straight in half, Jupiter Jazz Part 2. Please review long and hard, I NEED positive feedback on this story, it's the only thing that keeps me driven. **

**Thank you Blitz Gundam who reviewed my ficcy and edited it and was so nice. Lots-o-love! And Kagona, thanks a lot!**

**--Best Regards**

Kikenbutsu


	8. Soft Blonde 08

Thank you all so much for all of those who reviewed my story, I feel that some of you aren't reviewing and I urge you to do so!

You have helped me all along the way and this is just the very beginning of this story. 

-----

_It's all a blur…_

_Do you remember? _

_"I'm the only one who can keep you alive…I'm the only one who can kill you…"_

_A pretty face, big blue eyes and a small smile. _

_"I'm only watching a dream that I'll never awaken from…"_

_"Be careful when you are with that woman."_

_"Women are all liars." _

_"When this is all over, I'm getting out of this, when that happens….will you come with me?" _

_"Are you going to betray me?!" _

_"They're going to kill you…"_

_"Oh, you're finally up…you slept too much ya know, it's been three days…"_

_"You're left eye and your right eye are different colors…?" _

_"My left eye sees the past."_

_"And what about your right eye?"_

_Perfect circles sat atop her head…_

_"Hello Mr. Spiegal."_

_"You're hardly helpless Spike…"_

_"There is nothing to eat."_

_"Spike, why are we chasing a little boy?"_

_"Spike… I…I need to do some things…I'll come back…"_

**Where'd you go Usagi?**

__

**Remember our promise Spike; remember when this is all over. I'll come with you.**

-----

Ringing… it was the deafening sound that reached his ears, opening his eyes not out of choice but out of reflex he looked up, snow flurries momentarily blocked his view before warm gloves brushed his face.  

"Usagi…" It was his groggily whisper sitting up, he rubbed through his coat; the hole in the pink down jacket didn't do unnoticed as he studied his ribs. 

"Rubber bullets." She pointed out to him, a smile on her face, "You should be happy they were not real ones, those do serious damage you know." She said matter-of-factly, eyebrows raising high on her forehead and nodding. 

"Tranquilizer darts… they're mocking me." He spoke grabbing Usagi's arm that was extended out to him, hoisting himself up. 

Usagi shook her head, "Maybe they are taking pity on you and maybe they are doing this to show you to never get mixed up with them again or next time they won't be tranquilizers and that you need to stop before you get hurt!" she blurted tugging at his sleeves, tears burning within her eyes. 

_Why doesn't he understand how I feel…? I feel so strongly about him and he can't even pick that up. You're my friend Spike._

He looked down at her, it was hard to miss but it was strange that he hadn't noticed it before. Interrupted again, it was the plague that had followed the Spike-Usagi moments so a crow landed at his feet. 

**SQUACK**

"Show me west." Spike said, looking down.

Spreading it's wings and lifting up from the floor the crow flew. Spike smirked, "Thanks."

-----

_I hear this name again…this Julia girl must've been beautiful…_

Faye was vaguely aware of the sad story that reached her ears from Gren's lips, but one part snagged her undivided attention. 

"I'm not afraid to die." 

Her eyebrows raised, die? She didn't want Gren to die, as much as hated to admit it, even to herself, he was the only person she felt a bond with. 

"You're lying." She countered, lips forming a thin line as she spoke, trying to convince herself more than him that he wasn't going to run off any second now into death's face. 

"Either way, I won't last much longer." He said, smiling at her, giving a slight shrug of his narrow shoulders. 

"Why'd you bring me here?" She could only ask, what was the point, the question plaguing her more now than any other time she had asked him in the past. 

"Perhaps I wanted to be with someone…" 

"You selfishly help people and then bring them here and then go off to die!" Faye yelled in rage and heartbreak, pulling her gun from her hip and shooting. 

-----

Jet asked the man again, "Are you sure it was this woman?" He said, holding a picture of Faye. 

"Yeah, it's been six months It's been six months since I last saw a woman in the flesh... and two years since I saw someone that good-looking. Of course I wouldn't make a mistake!" He yelled, frustrated with Jet's poking attitude. 

Jet, now thinking of Usagi shook his head, "I never want to live in this town…" 

"You're friend…she sat there, talking to Gren…Julia always sat there too…" He smiled, a faraway look on his face, remembering yesteryear. 

"Julia?" Jet asked, he could finally ask because the interest with this girl was growing unnerving. 

"She suddenly wandered in two years ago…disheveled, crying… she said she was looking for herself." He said with a shrug. 

"Looking for herself?" Jet asked. 

"It's what I said! Julia wasn't the same after that; she wore the oddest hairstyle…two bun on either side of her head, she looked different, but the emotion was real, it was Julia." He explained wiping a cup with his white cloth. 

An idea panged into Jet's mind, Usagi was the only woman he honestly knew with that type of hairstyle, "What kind of woman was she?" 

"She was a real babe…"

-----

"Damnit!" He cursed; he could hardly concentrate on the sky, snow flurries flowing down in every direction as he moved through the clouds. His eyes were settled down at his screen. 

""Mangan" with "ura-dora"... He's using an ancient code..." 

"An ancient code…" It was an open link between him and Usagi, "I know—"

The connection between the two breaks as Jet calls, "Yo."

"Yeah?" Spike asked, Uzume riding up next to him. 

"Got anything?" Jet asked, eyebrows furrowed, the events of today were taking him by storm.

"None." Spike admitted, but his voice wasn't disappointed flustered or angry, he was concentrating. He felt, he didn't have anything now; he'd have something later.

"Well, I got something good." Jet said, with obvious pride in his voice, "I know about the guy from that code name "Julia". It's a guy named Gren. He's an escaped convict, and has a hefty bounty on his head. If you catch him, I'll let you back on." 

-----

"Gren…" she whispered staring down at him sympathetically, her heart wretched watching him, deceiving and lying, doing everything she had always taught him not to. She had lost Spike a while back while he was talking to Jet. 

She had the strongest impulse to come here… Gren had always met her up here when they were friends so long ago…

She heard a shot ring out and then it was as if for one hundred years she slept, because when she finally grabbed the controls of Uzume she was going down fast, her knuckled turned white as she clutched and it was only vaguely in her mind as she stared anxiously at the rooftop where her enemy and former lover rendezvoused. 

"Gren!" It was the name that he wrenched her heart and then, she remembered nothing but overwhelming darkness. 

_*Flashback*_

 On Titan

"Take care." It was the soft call from down the street as he rubbed his sore nose.

"I thought bless you was appropriate?" He asked as she approached him, her hair was spun gold and thick just like Julia, her eyes filled with innocence and beauty, naïve almost, something mostly unseen in this galaxy, sheer happiness. Bubbly, would be the word to describe it. 

"No, that is so half a century ago." She joked, "My name is Tsukino Usagi, do you know my sister?" 

"That depends on what you're DNA says." He replied, a fancy way of saying, "who is your sister?"  

"Her name is Julia. Or at least that is what she goes by now." She replied, taking his hand in her own as if they had known each other forever and urging him back to where he was going. Discreetly inviting herself to his home and away from this biting cold. 

"Well I don't work by first nicknames, if Julia is her name, what's the last name?" 

She was quiet for a moment, she had obviously not expected that question because she opened and closed her mouth a few times, like a goldfish would do. The smartest thing would have been to give the same last name, but it somehow hadn't occurred to her then.

He laughed, "Well that answers the relation question…" He stopped to smile, "What do you want to know, you're far too adorable to want to hurt her." 

Her face exploded into a smile. 

-One-month later-

"You never explained to me what take care meant and why it was so much better than bless you." He said to her, watching her hold the two small bags that held all of her belongings. She was leaving. 

"Don't you know sweetheart? If someone says take care after you sneeze, it stops you from turning into a fairy." She said tapping him on the nose gently. She turned to leave. 

"If you leave I'll never love another woman again Tsukino-chan." Gren argued, "Never." 

She smiled turning back to him, a bright smile on her face but pain in her voice and tears in her eyes, "Well then you gotta wait for me because I promise this to you Mr. Saxophone man, I'll come back to you!" She smiled.

"I'll never love another woman like I loved you…"

"See you later Mr. Saxophone man…" 

*Flashback*

"That music…" 

Then there was an explosion, then that faint music of her past died away. 

She emerged from the twisted remains of her ship, she held her head and in the distance, she made out some smoking debris. 

Gren! Her mind screamed. She ran, her jacket torn to shreds from the crash, feet bleeding and bare she ran, face ravaged violently by the falling snow, it burned, but she made no regard to her own feelings.

She found him in the snow, lying, not moving, "Gren…it's me…Usagi." She whispered taking his head on her lap. Blood trickled down the side of his mouth as she cried. 

"Usagi…you came back to me…" He whispered, extending his hand to stroke her bloodied cheeks. 

"I don't lie Gren, I promised you I would come back." She smiled at him, her voice quivering. 

"I'm glad you're here…Tsukino-chan." Gren whispered as Usagi's lips covered his own, it was a sweet kiss, gentle and caring, passionate without ravage, tender yet not weak. She pulled away from him as Spike's mono-fighter landed, she stroked a strand of glossy black hair from his face. 

"Usagi?" Spike said, looking at her battered state. Yet she said nothing, she just looked down at Gren, "Remember Titan, we could have that Gren, don't leave me…" She choked out, crying now. 

"Titan…" 

Spike looked between the tow and decided to seize the moment, he grabbed the communicator, "Damn, will an ambulance even come to this place?" 

Gren held the communicator, letting it fall from Spike's grasp. 

"Can you lift me up into the pod again? I want to go to Titan..." Gren said, "I want to replay a very important memory until I die." 

Usagi looked to Spike, Titan was where they had met. 

"You can't possibly last in your condition! It would take too long!" Spike yelled, Gung-Ho on getting an ambulance. 

"I won't last long anyway... Dying during the voyage would be a good way to go... I want to return there... one more time. I want to be as close as I can... Please..." Gren pleaded. 

"Spike…it is his dying wish…" Usagi reminded, Spike looked at Gren, he was going to die, and it was his last request. Spike grabbed Gren's arms.

"Help me get him in the pod Usagi." Spike said, then him and Usagi propped him up inside of the craft. 

"I see. You are Spike. Julia was always talking about you... That your two eyes were of different colors... That's what she said... That you get a strange feeling when you look into his eyes..." Gren whispered, no looking at Spike, eyes searching. 

"What was she doing?" Spike asked. 

Gren smiled, a reminiscent looked on his face, "In the corner seat of the bar... She always sat there while I wasn't paying attention... She always requested the same song... and smiled. Sadly... smiled." 

Spike types in a few buttons and as the pod takes off on a course to Titan, Gren whispered down, looking at Usagi. 

_I'll always love you._

-----

"How you doing kid?" Spike asked as he walked into Usagi's room. She was covered in various bandages that Jet had done not long after they had arrived.

She was hurt and working a fever of 102 degrees. "I'm okay." She said in a hoarse voice, she had been staring off into space when he had come in. 

"Jet told me to bring this in to you." Spike said, a little awkward. He hoped she wouldn't start to cry, he wasn't exactly good with crying women. 

"Thanks." She said, gently motioning him to lay it down on the nearby table. 

"When I was knocked out, what happened with you and Vicious?" Spike asked, face stricken with concern.

"Nothing…" 

-----

See you later Space Cowboy…


	9. Soft Blonde 09

I've decided to continue this ficcy, but this really may be the last chapter if you guys don't review. Please review or this most definitely will be my last chapter of this story, I've been getting more and more discouraged, so very discouraged, now please, please, please, review or I will discontinue this fanfiction.

-----

"Gooey Fishy!" Ed yelled, shaking her head rapidly, red hair flying around her small chocolate face.

"Not 'gooey fishy' Ed, go fish." Usagi said once more reaching to the deck of cards and pulling herself another Jack.

"Usagi-chan have any…Lemon drops?" Ed asked excited; now realizing how very hungry she was.

"No lemon drops, but I do have some marshmallows." Usagi replied, putting a large bag of white puffs from her lap.

"Yay!" Ed said, grabbing the bag now and rubbing the small dog that slept on her side, "C'mon Ein let's eat!"

Usagi sat back in her chair, why hadn't she thought about that first hour out of four playing with Ed? Instead, she'd been sitting there for the past four hours playing Go Fish, I Declare War, Spit, Spades, Old Maid, and a few made up games where the rules were "Edward wins!"

"My, oh my, the power of food." Spike said taking that magazine off of his face. A blanket was bunched on his lap, he wasn't really using it . He had been sitting here, listening to Usagi and Ed playing, yeah, of course had had fallen asleep during hour two and three but for the first and last he was awake and he had noticed the change in Usagi tone from the first hour to the last. The decrease: Fun.

Usagi giggled and nodded, "Food makes everyone happy, all the time." She said plopping down next to him. Today was a slow day, no leads, and no bounties. The solar system was free of all crime today, and while that would be good for most, it was bad for them. They got paid off of crime.

Usagi curled up next to Spike somewhat, tired and exhausted herself, she let her head lay against his warm chest in a fetal position. She would then smile, breathing in his scent, soap and the lightest gist of cologne. "I'm so tired." She would then yawn closing her eyes halfway, obvious to Spike's discomfort.

_Oh man…_Spike wasn't used to this, it had been a while since he had a woman, so close, other than Faye when she we lurking around the way she does. Plus this was a little more, what is the word? Intimate then when Faye would smack him upside his head and yell in his face. He stiffed a bit after watching her unmoving but comfortable against the young bounty hunter.

"Spike?" Usagi asked, "What was Julia like?"

He stopped; Julia was a lot of things, a whole lot of things, but one word to describe it would be hard…

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, when you're not happy my skies are gray!" Ed sang so loud and so hard her voice cracked and Ein howled so shrill and so callous together they sounded _downright_ terrible.

He would smirk upon hearing the duet, "She was my sunshine." He would smile. The room was quiet after that, very quiet. But, not the uncomfortable stiff silence there was before. No, it was a calm silence, very relaxed and laid back. So relaxed in fact that after Usagi fell asleep against Spike, and he would gather her into his arms a bit closer and bring that blanket down around both their sleeping bodies, and allowing them to fall into a deep sleep.

-----

Jet sat in his room, picking up and placing those cards so carefully down again. A game of tactics, a game of silence, and game that would keep his mind off the bubbly blonde in the other room. A game of solitaire.

Usagi had plagued his mind for the longest; she did love him, didn't she? She smiled and hugged and laughed with him but did she really _love_ him?

She told him she did, but did she love him in a way that a man loves his wife, or, did she love him in a way that a brother loves a sister? In all of his thinking processes all he could do was randomly place cards on multiple decks, causing an uproar or confusion throughout the game.

"Damn." He would sigh, leaning back in his chair, "she's going to be the death of me."

-----

She poured the tangerine smelling liquid into a cup, picking up that steaming mug and bringing to her nose to inhale the sweet aroma. Spike was still asleep in the other room; she had momentarily slipped away to make a cup of tea. The sexual tension could be cut with a knife, and half dreaming she had drifted in here to get one. When she realized what an absurd thought it was, she decided to help herself to calm down.

She began to take a sip, "Ouch!"

_"Don't gulp your tea so fast Usagi! You'll burn your whole mouth and it isn't ladylike!" Luna would say. _

She chuckled and licked her reddening lips, "I'm sorry Luna-chan."

"Luna?" Spike would ask as he walked into the room and instead of tea, he helped himself to a cup of coffee.

"No, nothing." She would blush, now, politely sipping tea in modest tastes. She looked at him as he held the cup, merely looking down in that ebony abyss of black coffee.

She didn't know where her and Spike where now, no idea. She so wanted it to be more, but of course, she couldn't…she had a mission. And fooling with person's mind was never nice. But, she felt something for Spike; she knew he was a good kid; deep down he was. But that outside layer of rebel bad boy was extra…what's the word?

Cute.

"Spike…did you ever feel something…" Usagi started.

"Feel something?" He grinned at her coyness; "I feel things all the time Usagi."

"I mean…feel something for someone like how you felt for Julia?" She stopped, maybe she shouldn't have asked that question, and maybe it was too forward or rude to bring up Julia when concerning other women?

Oh no.

He stopped, and took a minute to think, "Yes."

She hadn't been expecting that, not all, she thought he'd say something along the lines of, 'No nobody could replace Julia.' But what she got was the complete and total opposite.

"Really? I mean…what happened with her?" She would ask who was this mystery girl?

"The story isn't quite finished yet."

"Oh…" She had only realized how very close they were to each other, very close. She licked her lips a bit, looking at him before she leaned in a bit and breathed in the scent of his lips; he smelled so clean, like soap, like, rose petals.

"Usagi?" The voice startled her and she backed away from Spike as quickly as she could, the cup of hot liquid slid from her fingers and cracked into a million pieces on the floor.

It was Jet; he had heard the kettle and decided he would like a cup of tea as well. He stared between them, he felt hurt yet but the only emotion that was raw in his eyes was suspicion.

"What's going on?" He said looking at the floor, Usagi quickly bent over to gather the scattered pieces and Spike kneeled down next to her, picking up the porcelain shards while she brought a dry towel on the wet floor.

"Nothing…nothing… I'm so clumsy." She would reply and shake her head, "Klutz Usagi Tsukino!" She said and dropped the towel in the sink.

"I'll just, go now." Spike said motioning to the door after finishing the task. He gave one final glance to Usagi, then Jet, and then exited out the door.

"So, you like him?" Jet would ask, looking to Usagi. She stopped what she was doing, that was a wonderful question.

When she was in the process of kissing him, she didn't even realize what she was doing, now, that question was what had possessed her to do such a thing. _Do I like him?_

"No, of course not." She answered almost as quickly, "No, not at all."

Jet cocked a brow at her, because after she had said this it seemed like she began to have a conversation with herself. The way her lips were moving it looked as if she was having a debate on her feelings.

_I don't like him! Of course not! I just met him!___

__

**_Like eight months ago._**

****

_Well…that is true, I didn't just meet him…but…but… I don't think he is even cute… _

**_What a terrible liar…_**__

_But…but…__ I can't like him!_

Why not? She could like him; she just refused to like him. But she didn't have any control over that, because she shot right through like and straight into the far yet familiar territory of _love. _

"Usagi… are you…?" Jet wasn't sure what to ask, she was talking to herself! How cute… No! Bad Jet… not everything is cute; some things are even remotely insane! Especially in Usagi's cases.

She laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head, "Eh! I'm fine!" She seemed to have a tendency to talk to herself, under her breath and aloud alike, but never in the excess of her mind.

"You don't look—"

"I'm fine!"

It was a few uneasy moments before any of them spoke, the one who broke that still; painful silence was none other than Jet himself, to a much lighter tone to further diminish her little…"outburst" seconds before.

"I'm going on a bounty hunt, you gonna come with?"

Usagi tilted her head to the side, "Why isn't Spike going?"

"It is the smallest of the small fish, he wouldn't be interested. But it can help with some pocket money."

-----

Faye would saunter, hips giving the lightest sashay as she walked with no other than the infamous Ein to the toilet bowl. She looked down at him and speaks to him as if she was speaking to something competent and aware of her words, "Really. Weren't you taught that you should wipe your own butt? I've been thinking of who you remind me of. I know now. That guy with the thin eye brows... Whitney Haggis Matsumoto. I wonder why I suddenly was reminded of him... Do you want to know something about my past that nobody else knows?" He tone has grown from annoyed to soft, tender, and caring. Ein looked to her _very __suspiciously. ___

_Faye sat on the floor, talking to Ein, no, as a matter of fact, recalling everything that had happened, not really talking with Ein, just…talking. _

"I was stupid back then, now that I think about it. I mean, he risked his life to save me. His debt was nothing compared to mine. It really wasn't that much..." She said at the completion of her story, from being awakened to the debt to the police chase. Her love for Whitney and the sacrifice he made for her.

At that point, Spike emerged from the bathroom. Faye looked shocked, "You were there the whole time?"

"Your story was way too long." He commented and began to walk away.

Faye jumped up in defiance, _Lysol Disinfectant Spray_ in her hands; she sanitized the air, "What were you doing in there for that long anyway! I hope the bathroom is clean! It better not smell in there mister! I hope you clean up your **mess.**"

-----

"You're a horrible woman, I'm sure that guy is weeping in the afterlife now that you ran away without paying that debt." Spike argued with Faye as she followed him to the living room, intent on making him sorry for his eavesdropping.

"I can't help it!" She further argued, "It's not a sum that is so easy to pay off, ya know!"

Spike sighed, "And now you are being defiant about it."

Faye shook her long, thin finger in Spike's face, "I've got some nerve alright, I'm much older than you are."

"You're past is all lies! What was that story about Romani? Did you make up this story too?" He wanted to corner her, so she couldn't lie anymore. So she couldn't lie so easily to his face.

"It's neither a lie, nor a fake. I just don't know the truth, not like I can help it!"

The terrible battle of the strongest tongues on the ship was halted when Edward ran through the room yelling, "Welcome back!"

-----

Jet followed Usagi into the living room; he was holding a handcuffed fat man with sandy blonde hair, he looked ragged in run-down.

It all happened so fast, the next thing everyone in the room knew was Faye, staring at the barcode tattoo at the back of his neck muttering, "Whitney Haggis Matsumoto…"

"Hey…long time no see?" He would reply feebly under her glare.

-----

His hands were knitted in those pools of sweet blonde hair that ran down her back in faucet like streams, lips locked solely with hers. Pouty pinken duo's pressed firmly with soft and before this moment seemingly unattainable lips.

"Usagi…" would whisper Spike breaking for only a moment to press his hot forehead against her cool one, to gaze deeply in her eyes for a moment, entranced with her beauty. How they had ended up in such a situation was beyond him, but when it happened, all other things were clouded out of his mind for the time being.

He again brought his lips down on hers in another raunchy kiss, lips upon hers with so much force, the sweet young girl of 18 backed against the wall, arms coming to grasp his shoulder blades from behind, pulling him closer. Her tongue was greeted by his in the meeting of their two lustful mouths, darting at each other in urgent need.

His hands worked at the delicate fabric that was pulled across her body, pulling, twisting, ripping in any attempts, harsh and gentle alike to rid her small and imposing frame of that cloth that held him one step away from his innermost fantasies. Soon it was removed and his mouth ravaged against her delicate skin. Sweet little face of hers twisted into something akin to shock, pleasure, desire and too many sins to list.

"Spike, I lov—"

**"SPIKE, FAYE IS TAKING OFF IN THE SHIP!"**

Usagi pulling his cheeks and screaming in his ears would snap him out of his sweet fantasy, and Spike would realize he was…floating? Being on air is one thing, an idiom, walking on air, light-headed, as light as air. That was one way but what he was talking about was someone deactivating the gravity of the ship.

"Are they ready to depart already?" Spike would ask Usagi but she held a small, knowing smile on her face.

"They were in love, Spike."

Spike itched his head, "Is she going to let him go?"

Usagi shook a finger, and then yelled in fright when she came dangerously close to the still spinning ceiling fan. Spike would grab those long, sexy…grab her legs… and pull her down.

_Bad boy Spike…bad boy! _

"She might be letting him go," Usagi replied after giving the due thanks.

Spike thought a moment, would Faye be that stupid!? "Want to bet?"

"We'll split it, 60-40." Usagi would negotiate. Then the fight was on as the two young'uns struggled hand and foot to reach the hanger.

-----

Jet was already in the hanger when they arrived, Faye was pointing a gun at him. "I'm not going to let you have him!"

"She took the guy and not the money!" Jet would yell seeing Spike and Usagi enter.

-----

To make a long story short. It was a fight. A really long, boring, dreary fight.

-----

Spike emerged from the tub, the instant his head had risen above the water Usagi had scrubbed at his hair, fingers digging, moving against his scalp. Combing and cleaning.

"You can't exercise and then put people in a headlock without paying the price!"

-----

**_Easy come, easy go. _**

****

The Real Folk Blues!

I got lazy with this chapter. We had to do this episode but I'm not a fan. So, there it is. Review or I'm done with this story, please.


	10. Soft Blonde 10

Hey all my lovely readers. I have been looking forward to this episode for the entire series! This is by far the most revealing and mandatory episode in the entire show.

I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. It has been really hectic. Well now at least I can write y'all a really long and detail chapter!

Soft Blonde, here it goes.

-----

SPEAK LIKE A CHILD

Sitting on the deck of the Bebop, Usagi was talking to Ed on one of those rare occasions that Ed wasn't asleep. While Jet hung clothes to dry, Usagi was scrubbing the deck on hands and knees, something she had opted to do for them since she didn't bring any big cash into the ship and certainly didn't pay rent. Spike was nearby, fishing in the water that the Bebop was docked in.

"And so, the turtle took him to a place called Ryuuguujou as a reward." Usagi explained, winding down to the end of her two hour long story. Jet had told it earlier, but his seemed condensed and to the point. It had come from her time. The fairytale was old to them, but, Usagi remembered reading the story in first grade. That was about the time it was written.

"Ryuuguujou?" Ed was the type of little girl who asked questions every sentence. It was alright because it always seemed as if she was following, and she wanted to understand the story.

"Yes, and at that place they held a welcome party for him. Beautiful women and scrumptious feasts. Dreams and halibut swam about and so he spent his time as if in a dream." She explained, "It was perfect." Her voice trailed off.

"I haven't seen any halibut in a while." Spike complained to himself, but audible for everyone else to hear.

"I see…" Ed stated leaning forward.

"Days passed and before he knew it, it was time to go backHe was given the Tamatebako as a souvenir."

"Tamatebako… is that yummy?" Ed tilted her head to the side.

Usagi giggled, _how this little girl asked questions!_ "It isn't food, darling; it's a chest with lots of treasures inside."

"I haven't seen any treasures in a while either," Spike further complained. Jet, was very tired of the Spike's whining when _some of us are trying to get some ship-work done!_

"You are so tasteless, it's an old fairytale!" He said slamming down the laundry basket, "It wasn't meant for out-of-work bounty hunters to snivel about. Get over it!" He yelled.

At that point, while all hell was breaking loose on the deck of the Bebop, a large, green, turtle-shaped delivery truck landed not too far away from them. The only one that seemed to notice amidst the group was Edward.

Edward, who had been bopping her head idly because she asked, obviously extremely confused, "The turtle's Tamatebako?" She asked while Jet looked on at the little girl incredulously.

"…what were you listening to…?"

"We have company." Usagi would point out; wondering what could possibly be in the delivery truck that had just landed, could be possibly be bringing them.

-----

"Jet, you know Faye has just as much money as I do!" Usagi said, pulling her pockets inside out, showing the lack of money, the lack of even lint. She chased after him, tugging on his arm pitifully. He was a big man. He kind of just, swept her away in the tide with him. Usagi was afraid that if Jet and Faye had another argument, Faye would end up leaving for good.

It was easy to see Faye exiting from her ship as Jet charged towards her, anger twisting in his features, "Pay up! 6300 Woolongs!" He shouted, throwing a package roughly to her feet. She stepped away, looking down to the package and then glancing back and Jet and the half-standing Usagi.

Faye looked down again as Jet clarified, "This is for you."

"For…me?" She asked, slowly examining the package with her fingertips as if it would explode at any moment.

"C.O.D., even! To top it off, there was no return address; I had NO choice **_but to accept it!"_** Jet's voice had become shrill as Faye jumped in her ship and took off without the slightest look backwards, to Spike, Jet, Usagi or that mysterious package that she had left in their custody.

-----

"Don't you think it's fishy for a woman who always claims other people's property as her own to run away without even touching it?" Jet asked, twirling the brown paper package between his thick, metal fingers.

"Picking up enemies is what Faye does best." Spike added, grabbing the package from Jet. Usagi looked on, that shape… that box… it looks so familiar. There was only one thing she could think of that would have been cut that way… Videotape.

"I should do an explosives and biochemical test just in case..." _No! I should return this to the courier service and have them refund my money I paid for her sake..._ Jet pondered. Before he could do anything he watched helplessly as Spike ripped open that package.

He was frozen for a moment while Spike, the beast, continued his assault on the package until a rectangular box simply slid out, it fell with somewhat of a clank. Spike leaned to pick it up but before his fingers even came close, Usagi had dived, rolling across the floor to grab it.

"Oh my God!" Usagi's eyes were wide in worry. "Who sent this?" She asked as she clutched the thing between her palms as if it were the cause and root of all her troubles. Her hands trembled, and the contents within the box shook against the black plastic shell.

"Usagi…?" Jet asked hesitantly after a few moments of watching her stare at the plastic casing, "What's wrong?"

It was almost as if it were a wake up call, Usagi had suddenly become very aware of herself clutching the box in a Golem-esque manner, she licked her lips hesitantly for a moment and then, silently put it down. It was the only thing she could do, whether it was believable or not she replied, "I have no idea."

Then came that incredulous look from everyone in the living room, their eyes glaring right into her forehead for a moment, "You don't know?" Repeated Spike, "You have no idea?" Then, thankfully for Usagi, Ed picked up the box and ran her tongue over it taking the attention off of her.

Jet would then yell, snatching the box from Edward's fingers and pressing her ear again it "Hey, Ed! Don't do that! You don't know what it is! Did you even listen to see if it is making any ticking noises?" Jet said.

Ed continued to lick it from his hand, "Mmm! Tasty! And no ticky-tacky noises." She bit down into it, not hard enough to rupture of with enough pressure to clasp it.

"Ed is hungry!" She explained while jumping onto Ein in desperate attempts to escape Jet's clutches. The small dog took off as the weight was pressed down onto him; he skipped and easily slid between Jet's legs… right into Usagi. She moved left, grabbing the tape from Edward's mouth and allowing them to skid all the way across the floor and into a wall.

Usagi cringed but held the rectangular shaped thing close to her heart. This could be bad.

Most tapes that look like this have something that involves Crystal Tokyo on it… If anyone watches it they might find out where I come from. It's too soon! What do I do? Faye's been on my tails for months now, she remembers me like… **I remember her**.

"Why don't we just trash it, I mean, why give it to Faye if she didn't pay for it? Just trash it, to teach her a lesson to own up to her responsibilities and –" She was cut off by Spike who plucked the tape from her hands and sat down examining it.

"Or, we could keep it since we paid for it." He spoke and it was law. Usagi sighed; her increased hate of the tape would only further their curiosity towards it.

Edward had long since risen from the floor and begun to investigate the thing that "was not food" on Tomato to find out what it was exactly. "I got data! I got data from the courier service!"

Usagi, moving quickly past Jet, Spike and skipping over a still-hurt Ein she pushed Edward out of the way and read. "A non-profit nunnery in Europa…Pluto Prison? Asteroid Actors' Studio? Fourth Uranus Observatory? Venus News Network? Forwarded, forwarded, and forwarded some more... Thisthing's been passed around the entire solar system... Due to the explosion of the Lunar Gate all data before 2022 has been lost."

"An antique."

-----

Usagi looked nervously around the antique shop, looking around; on some of the walls were pictures, posters of who she used to be. Sailor Moon. Things you would see in a little girl's bedroom and not this… little shop of horrors. There were newspapers in cases as they looked about, taking about a decision Neo-Queen Serenity had vetoed in the name of Crystal Utopia and a very public argument after involving King Endyminion.

The blonde girls cringed and suddenly felt sick; thankfully no one had noticed the large amounts of memorabilia around the store. They were too involved in their own possible sell.

"Do you think it will sell?" Spike asked Jet without even glancing around the store around them.

"How should I know? They say he's insane when it comes to 20th century images. He might."

"It just seems pretty damn worthless to me." Spike explained and shrugged, stuffing large hands into his pockets.

"It is, so let's go home!" Usagi pleaded. As they walked towards the back it was obvious that someone was sitting on a small stool in front of a television watching…

"Fighting Evil by Moonlight! Winning Love by Daylight! Never running from a real fight she is the one named Sailor… Sailor Venus… Sailor Mercury… Sailor Mars… Sailor Jupiter…"

Usagi's throat caught in her throat. It was a television show that had been aired around the beginning of Crystal Tokyo. On the screen showed a girl with her hair in an odd style, she was brunette though, not blonde. It was a popular actress at the time named Nariko Oki chosen to play the part that Usagi had lived.

The man was hunched close to the television from where he sat a look of excitement on his face while he watched the teenage transform into a costume, something akin to what Usagi had worn but with altered colors. Usagi cringed inwardly; there were so many similarities between a lot of his memorabilia and herself. Obviously this guy was some sort of guru for the 20th century. Hopefully he didn't recognize her.

"Excuse me, but are you—" Jet started but was silenced with the raise of a hand. The man was so concentrated on his television show he made it a point not to look at the people who tried to so rudely interrupt him.

"QUIET!"

They stood there for about fifteen minutes, the man, engrossed in the T.V. show totally and completely. Thankfully, Jet and Spike didn't make it a point to watch otherwise they would have been witness to what was Usagi's past.

The credits rolled when the heroine had finally defeated the monsters. Usagi had also taken point to watch the show. She liked watching, but made no attempt to comment on the false spots.

The man slapped his knee and leaned back in the chair, smiling broadly, still not facing the group, "GOD! That's good. Drama series from the 20th century are so good!" He reached over and turned off the tape, now, swiveling around to face them.

The anxiety had built up in Usagi like a gun aimed right at her head. In an attempt to conceal her identity because no doubt he would recognize her, she ducked down underneath a table. Seemingly no one had noticed her move, a lot of that was happening lately. She eyed the plug that was attached into a familiar looking outlet dating before the Gate explosion and started towards it.

The man had broken off into a Beta tape explanation but had managed adjust the tracking on the tape…

A castle made entirely of crystal, glimmering brilliantly in the spring morning. The sun was coming up behind it, the spectrum lit up rooms and from afar it was easy to see servants, or little black dots bustling about to get the palace started for the day that lay ahead of them. A little girl bounced in front of the camera and smiled broadly. She had soft pink hair and small cone like buns that extended into soft pools of cotton-candy like hair, in color and texture. Her eyes were red and looked shockingly like that of…

Usagi? Spike asked grabbing both sides of the screen. The man winced.

"Hey! You stop that!" The screen had suddenly gone to rice. Usagi had been pulling wires, uncaring to their function but just eager to halt the display of her daughter, Chibi-Usagi. "Look what you've done—WAIT…NO!"

Spike, in vehement attempts to regain the picture had slammed his foot deep into cassette player and in an instant all was lost.

_THANK YOU GOD!_ Usagi had rejoiced underneath the table while the man cried out.

"YOU IDIOT!"

-----

The victory of her dog race win had long-since settled within Faye's system and her mind had drifted to the video tape that had come. Everything was so extremely hazy; it was hard to make out what had happened when she was younger. Nothing at all seemed to trigger her memory except…

"Blondie." She spoke. Everything about that girl was weird. Everything, from her eyes to her height. To her weird hairstyle—

**"Chibi-Usa!**** … I'm scared. What if your mama doesn't like me? I couldn't live thinking that the Queen of ****Crystal****Tokyo**** doesn't like me… I mean… it was nice of you to invite me to sleep over and all but I don't think I can go through with it." A young ****Faye**** explained to her long-time best friend Chibi-Usagi. **

**Chibi-Usagi giggled, "Don't worry about a thing silly, my mommy loves everyone. And besides, it isn't like you are a bad person, everyone adores you at the orphanage. She has no reason not to love you, hey aren't you the one who isn't scared of anything?" **

**"I'm not scared of anything! I just hope you're right Chibi-Usa. I sure do hope you're right." ****Faye**** said as they hopped out of the limousine Chibi-Usagi got to ride to and from school. Exiting the lavish confines of the car, they'd walk up the palace that spanned almost half the kingdom in crystals. It sparkled and shone. You could very faintly see people bustling about inside the walls.**

**"To ease your worries right now I am going to introduce you two, you'll see. She'll love you...maybe she'll adopt you." Chibi-Usagi grabbed her friend and then began dragging her around the palace. **

_It's a wonder she knows her way around this place_**, thought ****Faye **_I'd get lost going to the bathroom. _

**She knocked on the door of her mother's room, hearing her call she entered, with a nervous ****Faye**** in tow. **

**"Mommy, this is my friend … " She explained. Her mother was seated at a vanity, brushing her hair in silence. **

**Faye**** gulped inwardly, the Queen didn't move for a few moments, but it wasn't as if she was quiet, although she was. The Queen was doing something far bigger than that indeed. She was soul searching, and when her search had ended, she turned.**

**Faye**** gasped and stared. Never had she seen such love from someone she hadn't eve met. Her eyes were so large and blue, it hurt to look. Like they were reflecting something right into her eyes. Her hair fell around her face in very smooth waves, curling intensely at the ends, making curls naturally that women paid hundred of dollars to get temporarily. **

**Her eyes.**** They were such a startling shade that ****Faye**** almost forgot to curtsy. When she had regained some of her senses she held out a palm, and nervously spoke, "Pleased…to ahhh… meet you… your majesty." **

**She laughed like a bell. So happy but when it was gone, it echoed. For a moment, ****Faye**** had her arm outstretched to allow a handshake but instead wrapped her arms around Chibi-Usagi's mother when she enveloped the young girl in a hug. **

"Hey lady, move it!" A woman yelled, half-pushing a dazed Faye forward. Faye was in line to collect her dog-racing money. She snapped out of the absentminded folly and collected her dough.

That is where she knew Usagi from. That is why her eyes have such an affect on her… Faye had always been a Hard Luck, Gung-Ho, No Nonsense type-o-gal even at the virgin age of thirteen. But those were the only sets of eyes that ever intimidated her… those blue, blue eyes.

Usagi… how? She was the Queen of Crystal Tokyo… the Queen of the World before the Lunar Gate Explosion. The same Queen that had approved the plan for the Gate, which caused the Earth as it is now. The Queen that had died… 50 years ago...who had been someone to her...someone very...very special...

She jumped in Redtail, fast track to the Bebop.

-----

"My ship things get better if I kick it." Spike defended his actions intensely, plopping down next to Usagi.

Usagi smiled with herself and shrugged, "Oh well, it's a shame we couldn't see what was on that tape. Oh well? Anyone up for lunch? I'm starved!" Usagi patted her stomach, "It's been a long day."

"Mm. Luncho, lunchie, lunchooo!"

Jet and Spike lean back in defeat, "You just had to go and kick it, didn't you Spike…"

Jet spoke in despondency. "You just don't know when to quit."

Usagi had been standing in the living room, looking quite pleased with herself, when the vid-phone clicked on and the owner of the antique shop ever so rudely clicked in.

His face was angry, then, as he surveyed the surroundings from the hologram picture he took in Usagi. Her hair, whose color was unusual in itself, her hairstyle, her face.

"Oh my God!" He yelled, eyes wide like a kid in a toy-store. "It's—it's you! It's you! Queen Serenity! I've dreamed about moments like this! How'd you survive the Gate explosion, surely you will replace my Beta deck?" He asked, panting hard in his own excitement.

Usagi was shocked for a moment, she was unsure of what to say. She was positive she would make out the day without being recognized, but now that was not the case. "I think you have the wrong person. I've never even heard of who you're speaking of."

Spike looked back and forth between the two, the look on her face. It was something he'd seen her wear many times before. Guilt. That look brought the age-old question back to Spike's mind. The burning question that had plagued him when she told him of her relationship with Vicious and had disappeared over time. Now it was back full force.

"What are you talking about?" Spike asked coming forward now and moving in front of Usagi, staring the man deeply in the eye.

"Hey tape-destroyer, move out of the way? Don't you know that I'm speaking to royalty here!... Hey… you don't even look 93!" That is when Usagi almost lost it, she pushed Spike out of the way and in a fit of anger she pushed the vid-phone off the tape, causing it to fizzle and crash to the floor. The connection was lost.

_Oh no…everything is ruined… _Usagi spoke into her mind that was very slowly going hazy. _Oh… _

**"PROBLEMS AT THE GATE**

**_A series of reoccurring malfunctions have experts worried"_**

**The newspaper headline read. Neo-Queen Serenity slammed it down in front of her, looking to her husband. **

**"Endyminion, this has gone far enough. We've gotten lucky these past few times, with piece of metal and riff-raff falling down on us, the atmosphere barely burning these things up. We can't do this anymore. No matter how much money it will bring into the monarchy." She argued.**

**King Endyminion looked to the newspaper very briefly, then turned back to his cup of coffee, taking a hand to turn it upside down and to the Sport Section. He was ignoring her pleas like he had done all the times before. **

**"Don't do this to me; you're forcing me to make a very wrong decision." She explained. It was trued, he was putting her between and rock and a hard place. **

**Their marriage had been on pins and needles for months now, all because of this Lunar Gate foolishness. "I can't choose between you and the world!" **

**A story like this would cause a media buzz. Her ending his project would only give the world something else to talk about and perhaps even be the end to their marriage. **

**"You are putting me in that position. I am the ruler first and your wife second." She said finally taking a stand. Endyminion slammed his cup of coffee against the table, the hot liquid splattered across the surface. She yelped as he got up quickly advancing on her. The hot coffee splattered everywhere. In her stupor she had backed up in her seat. His face was now inches away from her own, his hands gripping the arm rests at her sides until his knuckles bled white and the chair had been tipping on its back legs.**

**"You will do nothing. This project will push us forward amongst the other planets who only dream of this sort of thing!" He yelled into the face of his wife. He loved her, with all her heart, but thought she would understand later when all was said and done. His frustration had grown over the past few months with her demanding answers. **

**"Endyminion…" She whispered to him, "You're scaring me." She'd been having reoccurring dreams about to Moon and the Earth coming together, and not in the way one would hope. But them colliding. **

**His fury overcame her, "You should be scared! I want you to fear me! You will do nothing, and if you, there will be consequences." He shaking, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her violently. **

**Chibi-Usagi watched her parents from the doorway of the dining room. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She clutch ****ed**** the wall as if it were her life support. **

**"Stop!**** Daddy, stop it!"**

**Endyminion froze. All the color was lost from his face, and his grip on his wife loosened. He stared at her, backing away and leaving the room. Chibi-Usa rushed to her mother, who had been shaking in fear and shock, enveloping her in a hug.**

**"Chibi-Usa…you're going on a trip for mommy, alright?" **

A light… a light was shining in her eye, so bright it blinded her; she reached an arm up, trying to block the glare. Now, she surveyed her surroundings, familiar enough. It was Jet's room. The bonsai in the corner was a direct clue at that. She'd collapsed, she'd remember that, right after she plugged—or more like small the vidphone down after her secret was revealed to the entire crew of the Bebop.

You know that feeling, right before a fight, a confrontation that one gets? That swell of uncertainty and hazy foreboding that something terribly horribly wrong was about to happen. It blew up in her chest like a balloon, so much that in her physical state she actually felt stifled. As if, that expansion of doubt pressed hard against her lungs.

_What am I going to tell them? What am I going to tell him? _It was quite possible that the person that would be most disappointed in her was Spike.

_Spike…_ He had almost been counting on her, praying that she'd hold the answers to a question that had plagued him. _Julia_All at once, that feeling of uncertainty left her and in its replacement was rage. Not towards the video-store owner that would have been practical but instead towards Spike.

_Wait… so what if he's counting on me! There is only one thing that I can think of that is important to me right now and that is **Spike**_—_I mean Chibi-Usa! _

Usagi clutched her head in her hand and groaned, it sounded almost painful yet it was out of sheer and utter frustration. "How does some one care about two peoples feelings at the same time when they are totally conflicting one another?" She asked aloud burying her face in a pillow and letting loose a scream that would have rocked the entire solar system.

"When they are pretty much equally matched." When Usagi had raised her head from the pillow Spike was standing in front of her, looking down inquisitively.

He mock-slapped his forehead and bowed low, "My Queen."

Usagi gulped, feeling the hot tears well up slowly but surely in the back of her large expressive blue eyes. Eyes that were read so easily Spike knew the error of his ways immediately and sat down across from her, pulling a chair up behind himself.

"All in jest, bunny." He explained, offering her a cigarette after he'd lit one for himself. Usagi shook her head, eyes fixated on a worn spot on the floor, a spot that Jet had spent many-a-hour pacing since she'd come on board. She was staring hard now, almost holding her breath, because she knew that exhaling would only allow the tears of guilt to begin rolling down her cheeks.

"You alright?" He asked. The vein that ran right down the middle of everyone's forehead was looking especially rigid on Usagi now. Her eyes and face were now equally red, and her lips were pursed. "Breathe."

Usagi exhaled and the tears went along with the pent up breath she had been holding. She sobbed, and hugged her body. " I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I'm sorry."

"Shh…" Spike transferred from his seat to the bed and scooped her up in his arms as she cried, "No one is really that mad. Expect… Jet…Ed… and Ein." He tried to comfort, but, Spike wasn't the best at that so it came out sounding like a joke. Usagi giggled a little despite her sadness, she was here worrying about Spike and what he thought when, the jig was up.

"Are you mad?" Usagi asked, pulling away from him, her hands still pressed against his chest. His arms were around him, still holding her fragile little body close to him.

"Of course not…why would I be" He said, his eyes landed on her own. Her gaze was burning into him, etching something into his heart every single moment their stared remained on each other?

Sympathy?

No.

Remorse?

No.

Doubt?

No.

Love?

…

"I'm sorry." Usagi pulling away from him would cause that etching to stop, and whatever impression that was being made on his had stopped abruptly as she pulled away and stood, wiping her eyes with the back of her sleeve. "What's happening now? Out there, I mean." She asked, turned back to him. He stood and moved towards the door.

"If I tell you, you'd just want to stay in here, hiding. C'mon. Let's go."

"Give me a minute…please." Usagi whispers as Spike shrugs and exits the room.

-----

When Usagi walked into the living room, it was dark, the stillness for this time of day was shocking, especially since Faye, who had been gone walked in behind her only moments after she had surveyed the room herself, normally this would be Faye's turn to go, move it Blondie. Instead, they both stood, transfixed on the screen that had been set up before them.

_A small girl stood her hair so dark it was almost purple. The grass, the scenery could only point to one place. Earth. But, in this she was not alone. Standing next to her was another small girl, her hair fashioned in an almost familiar style with slight variations. They stood on the screen, holding hands, their closeness signifying their deep friendship. The second girl wore two cones at the side of her head; cotton candy pink curls cascaded out of each respective cone. Her eyes, although a different color were exactly like that of someone else's. _

_"Everyone decided that, they would send a message to themselves ten years in the future." A small __Faye__ explained. The other girl looked to her friend and nodded. _

_"And since me and my best friend, intend on being together forever, we figured, we'd do this as one!" She exclaimed a little to giddy. The girls who were apparently behind the camera giggled and the two rushed forward in their embarrassment, "Oh! Stop! Don't laugh!" They chimed together in union. _

_The screen cuts off and then settles again on the flustered duo. In the background, it was easy to make out a crystalline palace, it shone in the light of the sun… _

_"Something I want to say?" __Faye__ started, "Um… Good morning?" The other girl giggled and __Faye__ laughed in her shame and exclaimed, "Oh, never mind!"_

_The girl laughed harder. _

_The screen cuts off, this time; it cuts towards the pink haired little girl, waking up from a slumber in a large bedroom of pink. A figure sleeps closely next to her on the large bed, that same almost purple-black hair is peeping out underneath the covers, apparently still embarrassed from her first and second big screen debut. _

_The girl stops in front of the camera, she pulls the little __Faye__ from under the covers and wraps an arm around her, they look at each other. _

_"Good morning, me.__ Did you sleep well? And did you wake up well? Did the light and the wind, the air and the smell, all feel brand new? Is each and every cell in your body awake now? Today, you are who you are today. You are a newer version of me. Myself ten years from now... That's so far away for me that I can't even begin to imagine. Am I alone? Or is there a wonderful person next to me? Well, knowing me, I'm sure I am troubling a lot of different people. But that's all right. There's no problem. I will always be cheering you on…" __Faye__, now more at ease decides to input something, _

_"And for any reason, any at all you can't cheer for yourself… I'll be here for you, and mama too. We all will, and daddy. Because you were my family when no one else wasn't." She reached off camera and pulls a picture off the vanity, pressing it closely into the camera. __It was all of them, Queen Serenity and Chibi-Usagi, standing close, a mirror of one another with the same large eyes and unique hair, and __King __Endyminion__ and __Faye__,coincidentally, with the same hair color and pose. One big family. _

_"I'll be cheering you on when you can't, sis." __Chibi-Usagi smiles._

_The screen cuts away one last time and then, Faye and Chibi-Usagi are in the same spot as before, this time both dressed in cheerleading outfits. _

_"Go…YOU!" They are facing each other, cheering each other on. "Do you best! Do your best! Don't give up! Never give up! You can do it!" The end standing next to each other and break out in a fit of giggles. The screen freezes and Fay's voice is heard in. __"I am no longer here... But I'm here today, and I'll always be cheering for you right here... Cheering for you, my only family." _

"I…can't…remember…" Usagi and Faye say together, then their eyes land on one another...

"Mama?" Faye asks, finally, finally remembering those large** blue** eyes.

**See you Later Space Cowboy.**

**Please review!**


	11. Soft Blonde 11: Selene

I've been debating whether or not to move onto the next episode to just use this opportunity to clear up the past for the less than clarified readers or to just continue, move on. But, I want everyone to be up to speed on what is happening so, here goes.

-----

Chapter 11

Soft Blonde

"_I…can't…remember…" Usagi and Faye say together, then their eyes land on one another..._

"_Mama?" Faye asks, finally, finally remembering those large** blue** eyes._

Usagi stared. And that's all, she stared, transfixed on Faye's face, seeing only… Gun-Ho woman, Faye, her persona, her outfit her physique. She was taking in her appearance from the feet up, mind reveling in what **possessed **her to even utter those words.

"I'm sorry…" She whispered out, offer only an apology to why she couldn't be her 'mama'. Faye dived at her then, clutching her tightly by the waist, fallen to her knees and gripping her with the earnest of a ravenous babe to its mother's nipple.

"MAMA!" She gasped out in tears, wetting Usagi's shirt with hot droplets that streamed from her eyes. Usagi backed away nervously, into a wall, Faye still holding on for dear life.

"Faye!" Jet exclaimed who had just been just an innocent bystander, now grabbed Faye by her waist and wrenched her away from Usagi.

"MAMA! MAMA! MAMA!" Hysterically she clawed, fingers digging deep in Jets flesh, reaching for Usagi desperately.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" She whispered looking to the ground.

"MAMA! DON'T YOU REMEMBER ME, AND DADDY AND CHIBI-USA!" She screamed, her past was coming back to her in heaves, moment by moment a new memory would enter into her mind, "AND THE ORPHANAGE AND THE PALACE AND THE PORTRAIT!" She yelled, traumatic at its worst, watching the only mother she ever knew deny her.

"Not again…" Faye seemed to calm in Jet's arm's which had remained resistant to the scratching, "I'm not an orphan again… No."

Usagi's eyes remained glued to the floor for a moment, before she could muster the strength to look Faye in her eyes, it was so out of character for her to break down, scream, fight, _depend _on someone else she couldn't do it before. As their eyes met, Usagi's body lurched.

"**You're so pretty Faye-Faye and all this hair." Neo-Queen Serenity said, running her hands through the girl's mane. "Is just blocking all your lovely features." She suggested, as her daughter sat seated in front of the Queen's vanity mirror in her bedroom. **

**Faye looked at her reflection, the tangles mess of blue-black hung around her face like a cloth, masking what was a really lovely face underneath. **

"**You think so, Mama?" A young Faye asked as a brush was run through it pulling her hair back. "I kind of wanted your hairstyle." Faye said innocently as the five-year old was. **

**There is was again, that long silvery laugh that was like a bell, not brash or high, it was just like, running water, or a tide hitting the shore. Not in sound, but in feeling.**

"**Faye-Faye, I don't think this look would suit you, you are far too exotic looking for something this cutsie." She said in a hushed tone and laughed again when a small Chibi-Usagi came bouncing up. **

"**Hey! What about me! I'm not cute-see-eee." She said, wrapping her four-year old lips around the word she had thought she heard her mother use to describe their signature hairstyle. "I'm just as Axe-O-tick as Faye-Faye." Chibi-Usagi said again, trying to pronounce an unfamiliar word. **

"**Yes your are, my darling." The Queen said, and grabbed her chin, "But you are still gorgeous, just like Faye-Faye, you two just have different looks. What I suggest is…" The queen pulled a lock of hair down towards Faye's chin and stopped. It was a drastically short cut as compared to Faye's hair, which surpassed even the Queen's. **

**Chibi-Usagi gasped, "That short? You'll look a boy!" She giggled and Faye frowned deeply, shaking her mother's hand out of her hair. **

**Queen Serenity scolded her daughter and reminded, "Darling, may I point out that your hair is not much long than this out of those pigtails." Chibi-Usagi quieted immediately with a pout. **

"**I think you will look lovely Faye-Faye. Trust me." The Queen gave Faye a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder. **

**Faye stared at her mother's eyes in the mirror and nodded. "I'll do it." She smiled, and those blue eyes smiled back. **

Usagi stared, finally recognizing her, not by her face or by her smell or anything like that, but by her own eyes, she stared deeply into her eyes and saw that same quality of 'Faye-Faye'. She saw that same quality of her baby, she saw that _helplessness_.

"Faye-Faye." She whispered, running forward as Jet stood, dumbstruck by the scene that unfolded before him, loosening his grip on the raven haired girl as she flung herself forward and into the open and awaiting arms. Faye's collapsed into Usagi's arms, clutching, crying.

She closed her eyes, rocking gently, breathing in the familiar scent, wave upon wave of past hit her, and soon, looking at her grown daughter every strand was in perfect place right were she left it.

"Mommy."

-----

Usagi placed a cool hand over Faye's warm forehead, gently placing a warm kiss against her daughter's hot forehead.

"Sleep…" She whispered down to the slumbering woman as she stepped out of the bedroom and shut the light off behind her.

-----

"The plot thickens." The voice drew Usagi out of her thoughts as she exited the bedroom. Spike stood, half shrouded in a dark shadow in his ever-present stance of leaning against a wall.

"I don't know what to say." Usagi whispered after a few more moments of silence, she'd be wracking her brain for some sort of an excuse or explanation, and other the truth, nothing had come to her.

"How about the truth Usagi. Stop the lying, stop the game, stop the little innocent act and tell me the truth. How do you know Vicious? How do you know Faye? Who the hell are you?" His voice raised decibels above normal, stepping from his spot into the light. His eyes were red, and his forehead knotted in worry. "Don't bullshit me, don't fan this off like all the times before—"

"Spike…" Usagi took a cautious step forward, and Spike took one definite step backward.

"Don't touch me. Just answer my questions." His voice was cold, not holding an amusement or even recognition. Her eyes brimmed with tears, staring, just piercing into his unmoving form. What stared back was not a friend, but only someone on the quest of knowledge and understanding, and that, was a cold, cold glare.

"My name is Neo-Queen Serenity, I was Queen of Crystal Tokyo, the last empire to inhabit Earth before the Gate Incident in 2021…"

"That's impossible…"

"I hired Chessmaster Hex and Gate Corp. to construct what I thought would be a blessing, something to link the Court of the Solar System and I…"

_Ami…_

_Rei…_

_Makoto…_

_Minako…_

_Haruka…_

_Michiru…_

_Setsuna… _

_CHIBI USAGI…_

She shook her head, the voices in her mind allowing no time to think, she took a breath and started again.

"Instead it turned into something horrible, people were dying on the building site everyday, and debris was falling to Earth daily, it wasn't safe. I knew it, I knew it wasn't safe… but I had given my husband control of the project months before since I'd been so busy. When I told him I wanted to cancel the project, he went mad. He told me that I always undermined his authority and he would do nothing of the sort. I had no choice but to surpass him and cancel the project myself. Gate Corporation didn't like the idea because they'd put so money into the project and gotten so much publicity, and they didn't want their name to be tarnished with shoddy workmanship rumors. Chessmaster Hex agreed that it was a risky idea and he would have nothing to do it, and neither would his design. My husband threatened to put him in jail and exiled him unlawfully behind my back. They stole his design and behind my back continued with the construction… I'd been having strange dreams for weeks, but they changed the building site, it was impossible to track, considering that they could have been anywhere in space."

Usagi took a shuddering breath, pressing a cold hand against her cheek where she could so vividly remember how close Mamoru's rough hand had almost came in contact with her cheek many times. Towards the end of the world, he fought hard to keep the demons at bay. She pursed her lips together and closed her eyes, as if she were holding back a cry that was knocking, beckoning to spill out into the atmosphere and make its presence known among her crewmates.

"So why didn't you tell someone? Damn it." He was pacing the room, hands stuffed deeply into his pockets as he replayed the possible images of people dying in the streets, entire cities abolished because of her…her husband.

Usagi shook her head, now with pleading eyes she looked upon those crewmates that looked upon her with disgust. "I tried, I swear I tried… but he told the newspaper these terrible rumors about me, that I was ill and the medicine I was taking made me hallucinate, and he had moved the building site, so, everyone thought the project was cancelled and I was actually going crazy…"

"It was your job to protect the world. Your job. You should have done something." Jet countered in, but then, shook his head as if to release foolish thoughts, "wait…this is absolutely impossible as is. You're…" He counted on his fingers, "93 years old…no, maybe you really are crazy, and you don't look a day past eighteen."

"I don't age…I stopped aging when I was eighteen, due to the power of my silver—"

"Silver crystal? Pretty crystal, pretty, pretty!" Ed chimed in.

"Wait…I know you aren't talking about the Silver Imperial Crystal, Spike, you remember watching that on the news? The crystal that supposedly had the power to destroy entire planets and came from crystals of horrible monsters that the Queen of Crystal Tokyo had defeated? You know what I'm talking about. It was only an urban legend then, and the Queen never addressed the rumors, but it's the single most valuable piece of jewelry in the entire world."

Spike sat, looking at Jet and then recalled the price in his mind, "Yes! Yes! One billion wuulongs." Spike whistled, remembering the rock that supposedly come from an unknown planet but was harder, more beautiful and shone 100 times that of any diamond.

Usagi nodded, "Yes…my crystal now is the only thing that sustains me…and my daughter." Usagi admitted.

"Is that why…Faye—l" Jet was referring to why Faye had lived just as long as Usagi, why she was also in the VHS records they had obtained.

Usagi shook her head…

"_I see... I can finally die now... But... I feel so at ease now... Do you know...? Do you understand...? Do you...?" Wen whispered, aging within seconds from a young boy to an old face deep in the winter of his life. His fingers clutched his heart, gasping. Breath being pulled deeply into his lungs, words only barely audible as he pushed them past the pain of aging fifty years._

_Tears streamed down her face, continuing their brackish pilgrimage downwards over flushed cheeks. "Wen…I'm so, so, sorry… I'm so sorry…please forgive me…" _

"Just like Wen... Faye had also stopped aging due to the large amount of chemicals and radiation she had been exposed to, I suppose." Usagi explained, recalling the small boy that could play the saxophone so well, the boy she had been reunited with early in her days on the Bebop.

"_**Oh, I'm hot…all this playing makes me tired." Neo-Queen Serenity explained, removing the black patch from her eye and blowing her bangs upwards to cool her heart-shaped forehead. **_

"_**No mama! Not playing, swashbucking!" Chibi-Usagi explained while stomping heavily on her peg leg. **_

"_**It is hot though Ms. Tsukino-Chiba. I'm really thirsty." A young boy with dark hair said, pulling up the broad hat that he wore and rubbing his sweaty palms against the fabric of his striped shirt. **_

"_**Mama, can we get some lemonade?" Faye asked, idly rubbing the black makeup that covered up many of her teeth. **_

"_**Would you also like some lemonade, Wen?" Neo-Queen Serenity asked, bending low to look the boy in the eye. **_

"_**I'd love some." **_

"I'd known him as well… when he was just a boy…just a child…a friend of my daughters." Usagi trailed off.

"Daughters?" Spike asked, leaning forward. "As in plural? As in more than one?"

Usagi nodded gently, "…yes…my other daughter Chibi-Usagi." Her voice grew somber as she recalled her search for her daughter.

"Is she dead?" Spike interjected, noticing the drop in her voice.

"God no!" Usagi said, her eyes snapping upwards to him, the look of terror in her eyes now, "No that's why I need to do all this stuff for Vic—" She stopped herself, bringing a hand up to her mouth. In her fright she had said all too much. She got up and left the room quickly.

-----

**SOMEWHERE DEEP IN THE UNIVERSE**

"Hey CHARLIE! Come look at this!" Gary, said climbing down from his inter-galactic garbage disposal vehicle and within his shoddy but working space suit circled the small, vile-like satellite.

It was covered in frost, evidence it had been in motion up here for many years now. Charlie now came floating up to his partner and peered into the cloudy satellite, rubbing the thick, thick glass that surrounded it, as he rubbed the object inside become more and more clear and soon, Charlie could make out very clearly what it was…

"CALL THE ISSP!"

Two pairs of stone frozen pink-red eyes stared back at them.

-----

Usagi clutched the doorknob to her own room after almost sprinting across the ship to get away from Spike, who she could tell was following her in hot pursuit.

He grabbed her wrist, coming up next to and they stood, pressing against each other in near the small doorway. She tried to push against him and into the room, but his strong forearm muscles blocked that route.

"Let me go Spike!" She yelled trying to push him away with one arm, the other one, still firmly latched on the doorknob.

"Usagi—"

"I know damn it, I know it was my responsibility to save Earth and protect it! I never asked for any of this. All I wanted to be from the day I turned fourteen years old to be pretty and popular and…nothing else! And from the day I graduated high school, I made a compromise, I did, if I couldn't be pretty and popular and I wanted to be was be invisible. And nothing else. I'm sorry! I'm so sorry…" Usagi's fingers gently released the knob and pressed her forehead against the door, defeated.

"Spike?" Jet's voice brought them out of their own thoughts. His footsteps were rapidly approaching around the corner.

Spike's head snapped up, taking Usagi's gentle hand and opening the door of her bedroom and closing it gently behind them. Jet's heavy footsteps were distinguishable outside the door; no doubt he was surveying the corridor.

_Sorry buddy, but I have a few questions for Usagi myself._

A soft knock came to the door. Spike covered Usagi's mouth, and she did not reply, Jet knocked again one more.

"Where could they have went…" He spoke gently before his footsteps once again rounded the corner and echoed away from them.

Spike looked down at Usagi when he was sure that Jet was gone and released her, backing away from her and sitting down on a small chair in the far corner.

"Tell me about Vicious. Tell me about Julia."

Usagi nodded quietly, jealously written all over her features.

"She was sitting there, so quietly, I wouldn't have even known she was there if she wasn't so…" Usagi paused, searching for the word. Julia had become somewhat of a mystical figure, and words could hardly describe her.

"Gorgeous." Spike finished, Usagi's eyes snapped up to him. Still in love. What a fool she had become for him. Jealously was laced within her pupils as she stared at him, he didn't meet her gaze. Lost in his own world.

"Well…yes." She agreed, that was the word she had been looking for. Her voice was laced with disappointment and Spike felt it. He felt guilt for having feelings for both of them, but said nothing, not because he didn't care. But because he was not sure of what to say.

"I'd been looking for Chibi-Usagi for years. It was impossible to scout the entire solar system, but, I had all the time in the world. All the time in the galaxy. I gave my daughter the crystal. I gave it to her to protect her, and the only way I could possibly think of restoring Earth to the way it was, was to have it. To right some of the wrong…Anyway, I was on Mars, and I was in a saloon, getting a drink when I saw her…I'd gotten from a tip that she knew where my daughter was. She looked so sad sitting there. Like she was on the verge of tears, completely alone.

I spent all day talking To Julia. She'd told me she'd known my daughter for years now, that she was an old friend and although she knew her, she was unable to help me because Chibi-Usagi, or, Renee, as she was going by now had left Mars a month before and she hadn't heard from her since. I spent a lot of time with Julia after that, months, she was running and I was looking, so we just stuck together. She warned me constantly about a man she was running from."

"_**Lilly…" Julia started, but Usagi knew exactly what she was about to say. **_

"_**Julia, stop it. If I was worried about some guy more than I was worried about Renee then I'd tell you, but honestly, sweetheart, I don't give a rat's ass." She laughed as they walked on the streets of Venus, hand in hand. They had grown close over the months they were together. **_

"**_I just don't want you getting hurt." Her voice was far off. "I am tired of people I love getting hurt by Vicious." _**

"I found out later that man was Vicious… and perhaps I should have taken her word for it. I've never met anyone more power hungry… not even Mamoru. I split with Julia soon after that conversation. I got a tip that Chibi-Usagi was on Mars, and Julia had heard that man was on Mars. I never heard from her after that…but on Mars I had a bit more company than I had bargained for."

_**Usagi approached the warehouse were she was supposed to meet her informant, the one that would finally tell her exactly where her daughter was. **_

_**Small hands clutched the rusty handle of the warehouse and she put her entire body into opening the heavily rusted and seemingly abandoned door to the large metal building. It was dark when the door was finally opened wide enough. She peered inside and looked around, thinking she had come to the wrong place. **_

_**Within seconds she was pulled deeply into pitch black of the warehouse and fingers were sinking deeply into the flesh of her neck, she struggled to breathe and reached out to stop her attacker, but he was tall, her fingers barely brushed his cheeks. She could feel every vein in her face raise and press hard against the inside of her flesh. **_

_**Somehow, someway, she had managed to gasp out, "Please…"**_

_**The fingers, cold and long retracted from their grip on her throat and she fell to the floor, gasping for breath and her chest expanded, feeling the air literally rush into her lungs, knocking the wind out of her. **_

_**Hot tears rolled down her cheeks, and the warehouse lights were flicked on, as she heard an angry voice yell, "THIS ISN'T THE GIRL!" **_

_**She laid on her back, paralyzed from the fall, in shock, mumbling something about her daughter, "Renee…" **_

_**The man, with white hair looked down on her, crouching over and brushing a flaxen lock of hair from her face, letting his cold, wicked fingers trace ever so gently along the curves and dips of her face. **_

"_**I'm sorry boss… do you want us to get rid of her?" Someone asked, but Usagi did not know who, because her eyes were concentrated on pair of green-gray oculars that stared back at her. **_

_**Usagi awoke, the room was completely dark and not in the sense that light was not present, but on the contrary, there was plenty of light in the room but it was still dark. It held a sense of deep and sad foreboding. **_

_**The covers she slept in smelt new, as if they were hardly used and quite possibly never used. She sat up, but hissed in pain when she tried to look around, her hand shot up to her neck, but she could hardly touch it. **_

"**_Pardon my heavy hands, Omiomono." _**

"**_Who's there? You'd better leave me alone." Usagi's eyes darted around, but, her eyes seemingly weren't working as they should have. She stood up, stumbling over a cane of some sort. She screamed as she came crashing to the floor. She stood, wobbly on her legs. _**

"_**You've been asleep almost three days, Omiomono, I didn't think you'd pull through. You may not have all your strength back, but you'll survive. Now, be a good little girl and SIT DOWN." **_

**_Usagi then realized where the voice was coming from as those same hands came out of the shadows and pressed her backwards into the mattress, those eyes, framed in evil, stared back at her. Her arms told her to move, but her body did not respond. _**

_**Terrifying hands traced coolly over her face and neck, massaging her pains, making her winch. **_

"**_You know, little girl, I spent a lot of money trying to find someone. And that someone was not you…" He said now, "a lot of money and a lot of people trying to find a girl with soft blonde hair and blue eyes.. rare to see that, and since Julia had made is so important to be incognito, and you, sweetheart had made it so important to let the world know that you were looking for your daughter? I got you're name instead." His voice turned sour at the last sentence, obviously peeved at his find. _**

"_**But, instead of killing you." He stood, pacing the perimeter of the bed, "I realized something, a bit more spectacular. You. I remember you, I've been looking for that crystal of yours for years. I've been looking at that same daughter for years…" Vicious admitted. **_

_**A squawk from the corner rang through the room, and Usagi noticed the large crow, who squawked as if her was laughed at her, "At my daughter?" **_

"**_Yes, Omiomono, I know her very, very well." He said, voice taunting._**

"_**Let me see her. I demand to see my daughter." Usagi said, mustering the strength to stand and face him. **_

"_**Oh, no darling, I don't know her that well, so have a seat. But I am pleased to report she is happily married. Or, she is, thus far." His voice held a heavy sense that he was going to do something to change that. **_

"_**Married? Chibi-Usagi?" Usagi asked, mouth ajar. It was a mother's dream to one day see her daughter happily joined in marriage, but today, it was a nightmare. Did Chibi-Usagi stop looking? Had she looked at all? **_

"_**Oh yes, but she doesn't go by that name anymore, or Renee. She refers herself now only as, Selene." **_

_That was my mother's name…_

"_**Selene...?" Usagi grew quiet, all this was a lot to take in one day. "But…how old is she?" **_

"**_Just as old as you are, my Queen, a supple age of eighteen." His voice was mocking, throughout the entire conversation. "Now if you'd kindly hand over your crystal, you can be on your way." _**

"_**I don't have it…I gave it to Chi—" Usagi stopped herself but it was too late, the stern yet amused look on Vicious' face said it all. His mouth, so cryptic and stoic in itself curved upwards into a frightening smirk. **_

"**_You did, did you? Well then I'll have to pay her visit. Hrm…that poses as a problem doesn't it? Her meddling husband will surely get in the way. And to think, I'll have the crystal, and all its powers and possibly his corporation." A low, guttural and evil laugh then spewed forward onto the room as he laughed in his own cleverness. _**

"_**Corporation?" Usagi asked.**_

"_**Don't worry you're little head about it bunny." He said, leaving the room. **_

"I never found Chibi-Usagi… he never brought me to her, in fact he hardly spoke to me. I was alone, in that dark room, with only as much as what would sustain me, but I hardly ever had my strength." Tears made there way down Usagi's cheeks as he recalled knowing the feeling of emptiness, the feeling that her child was in pain somewhere and she could do nothing. "The next time I saw Vicious actually was when I met you… I was sitting inside the limousine… all I knew was that we were moving… Vicious hadn't come back with the crystal, and in my heart I knew that Chibi-Usa had taken care of it. When I saw you fall, I thought you were going to die… and I recognized you immediately… you were Julia's Spike." Usagi looked up at him. "And you were more wonderful than I ever imagined…"

Spike stared at Usagi, listening to the story. "Did Julia tell you why she left?"

"No Spike." Usagi answered, standing now. "Get out, please."

Tears brimmed her eyes and finally, she cried, she released an anguished cry and crumbled, grief overcoming her, reliving the story of her life.

The shell of a Queen. The shell of a mother. The shell of a friend and of a wife. Crumbled, the shell of a woman who lived with the guilt of 8 billion people for 93 years.

Spike blinked back the instinct to tell him to leave her there to cry. Walk away and disengage her part of the ship. Wasn't it her fault for the Earth being only an underground tunnel now? Wasn't it her fault that human beings lived in fear, family lines were discontinued and nothing could ever be the way it was?

Wasn't it her fault he hadn't thought of Julia in weeks? Wasn't it her fault that he never worried about anything so much in his life? Wasn't it her fault that he was head-over heels in love with her? Wasn't it her fault she was simply…irresistible?

Spike crouched low, brushing away a soft bang of hair and cupping her cheek. Tears feel like lakes against his palm.

Leaning in, he breathed, taking in her scent and expelling warm breath onto her face gently, letting his soft lips fall to the rise of her face and gently kissing away every tear that feel until there were no more. Until her tears had stopped.

He pulled back, looking into her eyes for some sort of permission. Usagi stared back at him, and now brought her own hands up, to cup his face, kneeling now, to reach his crouch, they sat. On her bedroom floor, reliving the love that they had both lost respectively.

She stroked his face, the skin much softer than she had imagined and she also kissed, pressing pouted lips against his face, he breathed gently, closing his eyes to her advances. Her lips felt like butterflies against his skin, soft and comforting, something he'd rarely had.

Comfort.

She pulled back, still holding his hot face in her hands and he opened his eyes, to stare. To look deeply into her face, he pushed forward, moving his arms down and around her waist and then he pressed his lips firmly but lovingly against her own lips. Taking the kiss in a second he had dreamt about for weeks.

His dreams could not have begun to describe the sensation when his advances were replied to, as she did. Her own lips tingled as they finally met with Spike's. And that sensation went from her lips to her spine and spread like wildfire all over her body, down to her toes, as if her nerves were struck with a white hot fire.

"Spike…" Usagi said, pulling away and immediately felt the loss of the warmth that she was encased in. "I…I…" Her voice was shaking as she spoke to him.

"I love you." He finished and pressed his lips into her own again.

-----

The entire ship was quiet. Usagi's fingers traced the smooth canvas of Spike's chest, with a light touch her fingernails trailed over the hilltops of his pectorals, up and down, down and around, watching as his bare chest rose and fell, signaling life.

Her own nude body laid next his own, wrapped in covers, he slept soundly.

_I can't deny it any longer, I love him. I do love Spike but…what can come of this? _

She closed her eyes and pressed her cheek against his chest, wrapping on arm around his waist, in his sleep, he brought and arm around her, pulling her close to his naked body.

**Beep**

**Beep**

**Beep**

Her comm. beeped and vibrated as a call came through. Not many people had the number except… She gingerly moved away from Spike, and her feet touched the cool tile of the floor, she searched through the piles of clothes, finally locating the comm.

"Hello?" She asked, pulling her robed over her shoulders and walking into the hallway outside her room.

"Lilith..?" She searched for a signal, turning in all directions in the hallway, rice cleared slowly on her screen.

"Donnelly…" She breathed, looking to the ISSP officer, "Do you have any news?"

"Lilith. Outside of Mars, an unregistered unmarked satellite…"

She was loosing connection again, she moved, pivoting and fiddling with the antenna, "Donnelly? Donnelly!"

His face appeared again, "We've found Selene."

* * *

**I HAVE NOT BEEN GETTING ENOUGH REVIEWS COMPARED TO THE CHAPTER HITS ACCORDING TO THE FEATURE, IF I DO NOT GET AN ADEQUATE AMOUNT OF REVIEWS I WILL, I REPEAT, I WILL DISCONTINUE THIS FIC.**

It takes me so long between updates becuase I'm trying to muster up the will to continue on like, 3 reviews. Not any more, if I don't get adequate reviews this fic will, will, get discontinued.


	12. Chapter 12: ORANGE

_Italics _dreams

**_Italics and bold _**flashback

' ' thoughts

_Soft Blonde—**Kikenbutsu**_

Chapter 12: Enter the Senshi: Orange

-----

"_Where am I…?" Small, effeminate hands reached out around her, feeling nothing and seeing nothing but the dully illuminated mist that surrounded her._

_Her fingers reached for something, anything to let her know that she wasn't lost, instead a long white gloved hand reached from the fog and grabbed her own. _

_The woman was tall, and any other characteristics beside that of tall were lost. _

"_Shhh…cry no more little one…" _

"_Who are you? Why do I feel like I know you?" _

"_Rest, firefly, rest…All will be revealed in due time." _

Faye shot straight up in her bed, awaking to a dark room. She stumbled over her clothes to the wall and flicked on the light switch, surveying the bedroom and deeming it her own and not an unknown area she sighed heavily. Drenched in a cold sweat, she exhaled a relieved breath, and slid to the floor.

"Firefly?"

-----

Spikes legs dangled over the edge of the couch, hunched over in his signature position, lips wrapped around a cigarette, taking a pull before he dropped his head to his chest, silently thinking, silently musing.

"Well…what the heck is wrong with you?" Jet asked, crossing his arms over his chest and growing impatient.

"Huh? You saying something?" Spike's eye rolled lazily over Jet's own and he tilted his head to the side. He hadn't really been paying attention to his friend; instead his mind had belonged to the night that he and Usagi had shared, the night before.

That same night that had ended with him waking up to an empty bed and a small note, scribbled in sweet handwriting.

_**Spike—**_

_**I am sorry you didn't wake up next to me, but you looked so peaceful. I'll be back later. **_

_**All my Love**_

—_**Usagi**_

"Spike!" Jet yelled, "What's wrong you? I asked you where Usagi was last night? Her mono-fighter was here, but now it's not and I haven't seen her since yesterday. And when I was looking for you, I couldn't find you either."

Jet, although disappointed in her somewhat, still loved Usagi. He couldn't deny it, not for a second. That woman had taken a piece of that not he or anyone else could reclaim. From the top of her blonde head to the soles of her little pink feet, it was impossible to deny. After they'd acted so foolishly towards her, he was now regretting his unkind looks and words.

He was keen on acting like none of this had happened, considering that it would have made her uncomfortable. They had spent so many nights, so many weeks, talking, and the real reason Jet was mad because to him, she was his confidant and he had silently hoped that she also felt that way about him. Apparently it wasn't that way. He was intent on regaining her trust, and keeping it.

"I don't know…" Spike trailed, shaking his head. He was quite aware of Jet's feeling but he could no sooner throw himself at Vicious' feet than give up Usagi, to any man, best friend or not. "I got an early start on the day. I went to bed. Where's Faye?"

Jet noted that Spike had tried to change the subject, and instead of going along with him, he sat down, staring across the table and at his longtime friend and fellow cowboy. "You were with her last night, weren't you Spike?" His voice held no emotion, but floated out of his mouth as if it traveled on a gust of strong wind.

Spike stared at Jet as well, he was going to have to get used to the idea. "Yeah."

"So what about this dream girl, Julia? The one you've been chasing all over the damned solar system. All of a sudden she doesn't matter to you? That's just like you Spike. Selfish. Always selfish. Always only looking out for number one." His voice rose decibels, steadily until he was shouting, shouting on the top of his lungs with tears welling in the back of his throat for the broken heart he had to endure once again.

"You are not. I repeat. Not. Just because you're a young guy hurt Usagi. I see you. I see you, you may not say it all the time but you're still in love with this other woman and whether or not Usagi knows that, it ain't right. It just ain't right!"

Spike looked to the floor; he had spent almost the entire year searching for Julia, had it all been for nothing? He looked up now, again, at Jet and stood. "You're right. It's not."

And with that, he turned on his heel and walked away, Jet still calling after him, "If you leave now, YOU WON'T HAVE A PLACE ON THIS SHIP!"

Spike stopped, looking back at Jet.

-----

"Donnelly." Usagi greeted, extending an arm and with a firm grip shook the digits that were placed in her own.

"Lilith, now I don't have conformation on this now, but I think we've found Selene, and, something else I'm not all too sure about." He admitted. They stood in the lab office of the ISSP headquarters, a large white room, completely tiled, scattered desks occupied the room and a wall cut through the middle of it horizontally, complete with a door leading to the other half and a large view glass window, meant for identifying murder victims she assumed.

"Something else?" Usagi's eyes flew open, was she sick? Was there something wrong, "Something else? Like what?"

"Well…" Donnelly wracked him brain trying to find the technical term for it, to sound more official. "I'll show you… hopefully you can identify her. And it."

Donnelly moved towards the window, Usagi stopped him, clutching his arm. "Please, let me go in the room." Donnelly sighed.

"This way." With a small key, he opened to the door to the room, inside lay a woman, long pink hair flowed gently around her shoulders, curling delicately at the ends. Her skin was fair, perfect, like glossed marble, stretching taunt around a delicate neckline and brow.

A small towel covered her torso and left nothing to imagination, as her long, porcelain legs lay without covering and without censor.

Usagi could feel her legs buckling beneath her, but somehow, someway, she pressed forward, one in front of the other, forcing herself to continue until she stood, looking down at her from above the stretcher. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. She tried again, but closed it again. Her throat was shaking, the tears prickling the corners of her eyes she could feel it. She could feel the hot tears ready to spill out of her throat if she spoke. So, she forced her words through.

"Is she…?"

Donnelly looked on, a smile on his face, "No, just in a cryogenic sleep due to the containment in the satellite we found her in. She should be waking up."

Usagi nodded, and slowly the tears fell, one by one, rolling off of her face and down her chin. A trembling hand reached out to stroke the woman's face. Her cries were coming out steadily now, mouth making small noises, but slowly, slowly they turned into laughter.

"Chibi-Usa…Chibi-Usagi…" She pressed her face into her daughter's own and let the tears roll from her face in pearl like amounts until she felt the batting of eyelashes against her flesh. Usagi looked down at those large, innocent red eyes that stared back at her.

"…Ma…ma…?"

-----

Faye walked into the living room, she had heard the ruckus from her own bedroom and upon getting dress she had found Spike and Jet in a showdown of some sorts, each man glaring angrily at each other in the living room, making no attempt to move or even breathe, and none whatsoever to acknowledge her.

"Well boys, don't fall over yourselves saying hello to a sweet young lady such as myself." Faye said, sauntering in, when she wasn't met with her usual gruff hello at the point, she stopped.

"What the matter with you two dopes? Don't you see me standing here?" She was again, greeted by silence in all its levels. Her anger faded now; still they stood staring at one another.

"Don't punish me because she doesn't love you." Spike retaliated, taking one step forward.

"Oh yeah? Well, sneaky tactics wise guys seducing someone, I'd think it was love too." Jet said, taking two large steps forward, clenching his fists.

"Please Jet, I wouldn't give _you _the time of day. And besides, I'm not into old guys." Spike quipped, now they were almost nose to nose.

"Boys, boys, this is plenty of me to go around, please, don't fight, everyone will be served in due time." She joked uneasily, trying to make light of a very serious situation, "Now you two calm down, I am not playing Florence Nightingale to anyone with a fat lip and big mouth."

"Whatever." Spike spat, turning on his heel and leaving the room.

-----

Usagi sat, arms wrapped around Chibi-Usagi, who herself was wrapped in a long terry cloth robe, standard ISSP issue.

"I've been looking for you for decades Chibi-Usagi…decades…" Usagi whispered into her daughter's hair, gently stroked the pink curls that cascaded down her back. "I love you so much.. and no one, no one will ever hurt you again."

"Mommy, I thought you were dead. I stopped looking.. I didn't know that you were alive. I swear!" She said, pulling her mother close to her body.

"It's alright, darling. Mommy is here now and she isn't going anywhere, anymore, everything will be restored.." Usagi sat silently, thinking of a plan of action, lips pursed in soundless concern.

Donnelly walked in the room, still smiling, more than anything, what he wanted for his top ex-investigator was her to be happy. She'd worked with the bureau for more than…

_How many years has it been? She's like a common day Winona Ryder, she doesn't age a bit._

In his hands, he held a small brown cardboard box, on the sides, it was evident that holes were cut in the side, and something was sitting, something living, was sitting very quietly inside the box, and unlike other animals would do, like a small statue of whatever it was.

"We also found this; normally cryogenic sleep doesn't work for animals for some reason this little lady survived…" Said Donnelly pulling the animal from the confines of the cardboard box, Usagi's eyes widened, approaching Donnelly hesitantly, carefully as if what she was seeing were a dream.

"Luna!" The cat had pounced from Donnelly's grip and was now firmly placed in her owner's arms, and from Donnelly's view point it almost looked as if her small kitty arms were wrapped around Usagi's neck.

"Luna!" Usagi said, holding the cat at arm's length to take in the very unique breed, dark blue fur, large red eyes and the unique and distinguishable golden crescent moon on her forehead. "Luna, how are you? Where have you been?"

Donnelly eyed Usagi questionably, "She was like part of the family, we just got used to talking to her like this, I suppose." Explained Usagi sheepishly, smiling crookedly.

Donnelly nodded, "It's alright, I have a dog, my wife once said, don't fight in front of Buster!" He laughed at his own joke, "I understand."

Usagi and Chibi-Usa laughed, to diffuse the situation. "I'll give you all a few more minutes, then I'll come in, I have to ask a few more questions." Donnelly back out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"Luna…have you been with Chibi-Usagi all this time? All this time, I've missed you Luna-chan!" Usagi said, embracing the cat once more.

"You have grown, Usagi, are a beautiful woman, and are a beautiful Queen, I am very proud of you, and so is your mother." Luna said, bowing respectfully.

"Please, Luna don't. I'm the Queen of a planet of rocks. A planet of rocks and desert. That is no Queen at all."

Luna's eyebrows knotted, "Don't you say that, Usagi! You are the Queen of Earth, and you are head and commander of the Silver Alliance. Everything will be restored."

"But how Luna-chan? So many lives were given to a mistake, and now I am supposed to regain control of Earth and right all the wrongs? It's impossible!"

"It is your destiny!"

"I am TIRED of destiny. Am I destined to forever live and die? Am I destined to live on for thousands of years while people I love drop like flies?"

"It is better to love and lost than to never love at all Usagi." Luna preached eyes ablaze and set on her princess.

"No Luna, not when you loose so much, you become numb, and you don't feel, you can't feel because if you do life again is crumbling, like all the prophecies like all the destinies, Luna! You become so numb, all you can feel are the tears running down your cheeks. You become so numb you might as well be dead." Usagi yelled. Chibi-Usagi stared on with wide eyes at the scene unfolding before her.

Her mother, Queen of crystal Tokyo had been different, unlike this woman, her mother was put together, compassionate and a lady. Never yelling, never screaming always gentle. This was her mother, but almost a different person entirely.

"Usagi… I am sorry about the King, but you have a job to do. You have life to look forward to, and you have an obligation to Earth, and much as you hate this, you'll love bringing peace back to mankind when you do, and you will. The crystal can restore Earth to its former glory. It won't be easy, without the senshi its up to you, me, and Chibi-Usagi."

"The crystal? The crystal could be anywhere in the solar system right now! And it probably is laying somewhere, in a junkyard inside of a milk carton or something!" Usagi sat, holding her forehead. "There is no hope."

"Well then we'll find it Tsukino Usagi! We will find the crystal! Inside the junkyard. It cannot be destroyed. Only abused. I am very glad that Chibi-Usagi is back, but that does not mean that you can forget about that Crystal. It is your mother, it is your senshi, it is everything, and if it falls into the wrong hands it CAN and WILL be disastrous. If Vicious finds it, he could conquer the world."

"He wouldn't even know what to do with it!" Usagi countered, honestly, what could a simple man do with a crystal? Put it on a ring and give it to his fiancée?

"In the cryogenic sleep, your mother came to me. Vicious although is but a man, an evil, twisted conniving one, he can use your crystal to power any machine, and bomb, use it to make any weapon a thousand times stronger and power it for ten thousand years…and not only that, but, Usagi…"

"What is it Luna?"

"Vicious is the reincarnation of Mamoru…"

-----

Spike floated, the _Swordfish II_ floated idly through space, Faye had called him countless times,

pleading, in her own Faye manner.

"_**HEY SPIEGAL, GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!"**_

"All this for some girl." Spike said, lighting a cigarette and blowing it out, clouding the pod of

his mono-fighter. "Some girl…" His mind drifted to Usagi.

"_Usagi, am I hurting you…?" _

Spike shook his head free of his thoughts from the previous night, rightly because seconds later, a small mono-fighter came zooming past him, barely missing his own ship.

"HEY!" He yelled, slamming down on his control board, "WATCH IT BUDDY!" Behind the cloud of smoke that surrounded him now in his, he could faintly make out the flickering of lights.

'Stars don't move that fast…'

"SHIT!" Spike said, turning on his engines and made a quick lazy eight, pressing full force, accelerating quickly, and maneuvering fluidly around the lasers that shot out at him.

"I CAN'T DEAL WITH THIS…" Spike yelled, noticing the compact orange mono-fighter that zoomed past him before, and then back at the four black mono-fighters that came at him with unexplainable speed. "I'm not with him!"

"Hey, I may be a lot of things, but him isn't one of them!" The woman who zoomed away from him yelled into his two way intercom, "and, if you don't want your ass chewed out, I suggest that you move it or loose it buddy!"

Spike hardly had a chance to look to the intercom and visual transmitter, "Gah, why do I always get caught in these messes?" Spike turned _Swordfish II _towards the black mono-fighters that not only pursued the woman, but he as well. "Hrm…bounty hunters I assume. Well, I always love a good challenge, next time, do your research guys."

With those words, Spike let out a barrage of rounds, dropping his own mono-fighter low to dodge the oncoming array of ammunition that no doubt would have met him head on. "Don't underestimate me."

One of the four mono-fighters was hit, but kept coming despite the obvious damage, two of the four dropped, nose-diving towards him in hot pursuit. Spinning the _Swordfish II_ onto a barrel roll he dodged their attacks skillfully.

"My turn." Spike ran a hand through his green mass of hair, before pressing forward and plunging through a small opening through the two mono-fighters. They had not realized the error of their ways until the two ships that had been facing each other, collided head on, and exploded in a large blast.

"Inexperienced cowboys, zip, Spike, one." He cocked his finger in a gun position, "bang."

"A little help, 'Spike'!" He hadn't even realized that the connection wasn't lost, and adjusting the ship, he noticed that the orange mono fighter was being barraged by the lasers from the remaining two mono-fighters.

"Do you have a bounty on your head, young lady?" Spike asked, pressing forward on the steering wheel to accelerate again, "Is that why these big bad men are chasing you?"

"Well, what if I do?" She said, voice desperate now.

"Well then, I'll get rid of them, just to cash you in. That'll give you an extra fifteen minutes of freedom. See? I'm a nice guy."

Aiming carefully, the young man of twenty-seven set forth a spray of weaponry, hitting one mono-fighter, knocking out the wing, it smoked and fizzled, thrown off of its own axis and into the other mono-fighter.

**BOOM**

The explosion light up the starry sky and then it was gone again, just as fast as it had come.

"So, missy, what's your name, I need to know what to tell the ISSP when I get your money."

The girl with large blue eyes, not quite like Usagi's but not far from the innocent and beautiful quality of them either. "My name?" She flicked a lock of blonde hair over her should. "Aino Minako."

-----

"Thanks for wasting our time, Spike. She's worth a lousy hundred thousand wuulongs. Didn't even break a million." Jet said, crossing his arms over his chest as they sat in the living room of the Bebop.

"Well if we had a hundred thousand, then maybe you could buy some beef to go with those bell peppers…" Spike mumbled under his breath, getting fed up with Jet's crabby attitude that had lasted all day.

"Who you needed to find, was this Art guy." Faye pointed out, standing behind Jet and observing the screen of the computer, "He's worth 25 million wuulongs, whoa, if I had that kind of money, what I wouldn't do…" She whistled looking up into the air.

She smiled, thinking of the family she had now, if no one else, she had her mother. If she had 25 million wuulongs, she'd buy her own ship, and her and Usagi would just, live, so comfortably and easily they'd turn into liquid. She giggled at the thought, and her face turned red, noticing the perplexed look on Jet and Spike's face.

"Faye, giggling?" Edward came bouncing up, and took a large bite out of Faye's leg.

"OUCH! WHAT THE HELL YOU DO THAT FOR YOU LITTLE CREEP!" Faye yelled angrily quickly bounding away from the thirteen year old.

Ed smacked her lips, then licked them, then smacked them again, "It is still Faye-Faye, but…why is Faye-Faye giggling?" She asked scratching her head. Ein came barking up, "Ein! Maybe you should take a bite out of Faye-Faye too, just to make sure she isn't an evil alien posing as Faye-Faye! OOOoooOOO!"

"Get that mutt away from me you little weirdo!"

As Faye fought off Edward and Ein, Jet leaned forward, "You should have gotten Art. He's much more valuable, and this says that Aino and Art always travel together. Damn it, Spike, you should have kept your eyes open."

Spike let his fist slam against the table, "Keep my eyes open before or after I was attacked by a herd of renegade bounty hunters, Jet!"

"Well then don't keep your eyes open, keep your EYE open!" Jet said, taking a cheap shot at the fact one of Spike's eyes were glass, poking Spike in the eye, "Did you even feel that?"

"Oh, no you don't wanna get into with me! At least with all my natural body parts, I can swim in a direction other than a circle!" Spike said, poking Jet in the chest and slapping him on the wrist of his bionic arm. "I bet you didn't even feel that!"

"Why I outta—"

"_What's all this?"_ Usagi's voice broke through the yelling, like a horn.

Usagi had been out all morning and instead of returning to a quiet ship, Jet and Spike were pointing out artificial body parts, Ed and Ein had converted to cannibalism, the ship was a mess and everyone was making it their own duty to kill one another.

"Why is everyone fighting..?" Usagi eyed the inhabitants of the room. "I've never seen you all like this…well…" Usagi thought, correcting herself, "not all at once! Stop it, all of you."

Faye scrambled over to Usagi, and ducked behind her, peeking from behind her at a ravenous looking Ein and Edward. "I'm not scared; I just…don't want to be associated with these…these… heathens." Faye lied.

Jet stopped, straightening himself upon seeing Usagi. 'Damn that Spike, making me look bad in front of her.' But then, he stopped, observing someone standing next to Usagi that he hadn't noticed before, someone wearing a long white hooded terry cloth robe.

"Who's that?" Spike asked, beating Jet to the question. Jet eyed him and clearing his throat.

"Ahem." Jet shot Spike a dirty look. "Who's that?"

Usagi turned, "C'mon, don't be scared…don't be frightened…come on out…" Usagi beckoned, and wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulder when she stepped forward. She pulled the robe off her head, and from the pink hair that cascaded around her knees in waves to the large red eyes, she was breathtaking. "Everyone, this is my daughter, Chibi-Usagi."

Jets eyebrows knotted, now taking in the resemblance, he had hardly noticed their striking similarities when he was trying to show off to Usagi, "Your daughter…?"

"..Chibi-Usagi…?" Faye asked, slowly coming out from behind Usagi, eyes squinted, really trying to recognize the girl, who was no longer her small playmate but grown sister, she reached out, gently cupping her face and still silently staring…

"Faye-Faye?" It had been almost a century since she saw her, almost; she embraced her sister in a hug. "Mommy, you didn't tell me you found Faye-Faye…" she whispered in Faye's shoulder. "Oh…Faye… what are you wearing?" She asked, noticing the yellow outfit.

"What's wrong with my outfit, its nothing special!" Faye thought aloud, looking down at herself.

"That's what it looks like, nothing, you mean!" Chibi-Usagi laughed said, Luna bounding upwards and Chibi-Usagi's shoulders.

"Luna?" Faye asked, "Luna. So cats really do have nine lives, huh?"

'Always the smart mouth, Faye.' Luna thought said, not amused and only in reply giving a small, "meow".

Chibi-Usagi giggled, and so did Faye. None of the crew had seen Faye like this, giggling, laughing, happy. Jet had ruled out any other emotion from her slate other than _PMS_ing.

-----

Spike placed a gentle kiss atop Usagi's forehead, drawing her close to him and wrapping both of his arms around her small frame.

"I'm so scared…" She mumbled into his chest, as they stood in the control room. She pressed her face deeper into his warm muscles, "Having so much to loose, when for a long time, all you had to loose was your mind."

Spike nodded but stayed silent. "Do you know what I mean?" Usagi asked, looking up at him, tears shining in her eyes.

Spike nodded, pressing his lips firmly against her own for a moment before nodding, "Yeah… I know what you mean."

"_OWE, STOP SCRATCHING ME! ITS NOT MY FAULT YOU DUMB KITTY!" _The yell came from the hangar.

"Oh my God." Usagi said, startled, clutching Spike, "What was that?"

"SHUT UP BACK THERE, WILL YA?" Spike yelled, and again, the hangar was quiet.

"Who is that?" Usagi tore away from his arms quickly, that voice sounded so oddly familiar, it was like something possessed her feet to move. Something possessed her feet to keep going, walking, one step in front of the other. Something that was not just curiosity but an instinct.

"Usagi, hey! Slow down, you can't just go rushing into things!" Spike said.

"I'm not the one for cautious and delicate controls it seems." Usagi said, giving some sort of light explanation. When she reached the hangar door, she could hear a man whispering.

"Shh…Minako…someone is coming."

Usagi pulled the hangar open, looking in, she was met with a pair of blue eyes, the color clashed with her only, varying slightly from that of hers, but other than that, the pair could have been identical to each other.

"Who are you talking to?" Usagi asked, surveying the room, it seemed quite, shadows obscured her view of many places, but she was certain that someone else was with her. For some reason, she just got the feeling that this girl was tricky.

Minako stared at Usagi, and she spoke slowly, as if she were thinking and speaking simultaneously, in her head trying to figure out why Usagi's face made her feel so 'different'. Protective even.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Spike said, reaching down and grabbing the white blur that had tried to scamper away in the shadows, with one strong arm, he scooped up the animal.

"What's that?" From where she stood she could faintly see the glitter of something gold in Spike's hand, and when the large eyes of a white cat peered back at her with that similar crescent moon on it's own forehead.

"Princess…" Minako whispered, finally recognizing her, staring in the back of her head. "Princess Serenity."

It was like a movie, something Spike had seen in a feature film, not something in real life, something tangible, and something actual. Usagi turn and lowered to her knees, slowly kneeling, eyes wide, mouth half open.

"Venus…?"

"It's me, girl." Minako affirmed swinging that arm that was not chained to the hangar wall around Usagi. "It's me…"

"Mina-chan!" Usagi was slowly remembering things, nicknames, birthdays, memories even.

Spike looked at the two giggling women, basically unaware to his presence now, but chatting like schoolgirls, while he stood. Holding a cat.

"Ahem."

Usagi's head snapped up, remember she had entered the hangar with someone else, "Oh! Spike…" She stood, gently taking the cat from his fingers. "I'll catch up with you…" She nodded to him.

-----

"So wait, let me get this straight…" Jet said, pacing the living room. Usagi sat, rounded face smiling up at him, innocently.

"Stop me if I get it wrong, you released the bounty?"

Usagi nodded.

"And you also found her partner, Art, who you call Artemis, the one responsible for 300 cases of fraud, tax evasion, embezzlement and evading police. And you let him go too?"

Usagi thought for a moment, and nodded again.

"And you gave them _Uzume_?" Jet asked, rubbing his temples.

Usagi nodded. "You got it."

Spike sat down in a far corner, lips wrapped around a cigarette, giving it a pull and speaking from around it, "It wasn't your bounty to give."

Usagi smiled, recalling the story Spike had told her earlier, "Well, Spike, as I recall it, it wasn't your bounty to take."

"Hn." Spike glared at the floor, letting the feeling of being out a hundred thousand wuulongs, "Right."

Jet, at first being peeved that Usagi had let the bounties get away, now seemed satiated at her actions because one thing they had accomplished was to piss off Spike.

"Good job Usagi." Jet said, throwing Spike a large, sarcastic smile.

----

"I know you."

The hangar doors were open, Spike sweat rolled off his body, toned muscles aching for released as he practiced his Jeet Kune Do. The beads rolled of his chest and back, the aggression he had pent up inside of him.

His head raised to the voice that sounded like Usagi's but instead only belonged to her daughter, Chibi-Usa.

"You do, huh?" Spike said, his concentration broken, he sat down on the floor, exhaling. "And what do you know about _me?_"

"I know lots of things. I know that you're madly in love with your ex-girlfriend Julia. I know you were basically raised with Vicious. I knew he used to be your best friend. I know that you spent most of your time alone. Annie and Mao Yenrai of the Red Dragon Syndicate. And I know you disappointed that same man, Mao Yenrai when you left without so much as a goodbye instead of taking over the Syndicate like he had hoped."

Spike's eyes widened with each of her words, her stood, walking over to her. He didn't need anymore crooked members of the ship, anymore moles for Vicious, he didn't need anymore trouble. "Who the hell told you that? Who were you speaking to huh?" For the first time in a long time, Spike felt tears pricking the sides of his eyes. He hadn't cried over Mao's death, Mao who had treated him like a son throughout the greater part of his life.

"Mao." Chibi-Usagi eyes softened, "I spoke to Mao…"

"Mao is dead!" Spike yelled in fury, if he found out that she had anything to do with his murder, Usagi's daughter or not. "What did you and Vicious do to him?"

Chibi-Usagi's eyes darkened, "How dare you, Vicious had had me enslaved, using me as collateral to get the Silver Crystal out of my own mother. He ruined my life!" She countered.

"Then how do you know Mao, he was killed months ago by Vicious, sliced in the throat by a katana, almost decapitated." Spike said, winching even as he said it.

Faye came into the hangar at that moment; Chibi-Usagi stared at Spike with wide eyes as Faye's voice broke through the momentary silence that fell over the man and woman, "There you are, Usa-chan, I've been looking all over for you…" She noticed the uneasy silence and stopped. "Why am I always walking into these things today?" She whispered, rubbing her forehead.

"What's going on?" Usagi's voice brought them both out of their staring contest. She stood in the hangar door, casting a long shadow over the three of them. "Is everything okay?"

Chibi-Usagi broke away from the trio and pushed past Usagi and back into the main part of the ship. Usagi looked questioningly at Spike and Faye before turning on her heel and following Chibi-Usagi.

Faye looked around, dumbstruck, "What'd I do?" Spike shook his head, picking the white shirt from off the floor and slinging it over his shoulder, and walked through the hangar doors.

Faye stood for a few more seconds, her mouth hanging open in disbelief, "What'd I do?"

-----

"I can't think of it, mother." Chibi-Usagi admitted, screwing her eyes shut at the image that now lived behind her eyelids. "But I can think of nothing else…nothing." Petal light fingertips pressed against her mouth as she thought.

_It had been ransacked, turned upside down, that had to be the perfect world to describe her parlor. The cabinets had been torn inside out, her pictures, everything she owned, flipped inside outside and backwards._

_Lowering slowly to her knees, she looked upon the pictures that lay strewn about the room. They were private pictures. She had realized early on in her days that if she were captured on film throughout years, it would become more and more evident that she hadn't aged a day. _

"_Mao…" She spoke quietly, she spoke carefully. She had known who had done this. Her lips pursed, forming a hard, thin line. He had become more shifty than normal lately, and whenever she was around him, the ginzuishou throbbed against her chest uncontrollably. She wore it as a brooch, like her mother had done. _

"_Mao!" She yelled, standing, dusting herself off and running towards the door, before she stopped. 'Oh no.' _

_Stop stopped, deadly silent, and turned, from where she stood, it was obvious the floorboards had been up turned, her heels clacked against the floor in urgency, she reached her arm, deep into the floor, to her dismay, feeling only air. _

"_My journals… my journals…" She whisperer steadily, as if she concentrated on them hard enough they'd slither from underneath the couch and back into her arms, and the most precious pieces of information hadn't been in the arms of Vicious. _

"_Mao!" She'd retreated backwards into the hallway that she had came from, only to find it deathly empty and cold, the shiver that was sent up her spine could have caused hell to freeze over. It was 2:45. The meeting between Mao and the leader of the White Dragon Syndicate should have been finished fifteen minutes ago, and she had been awaiting the news of the alliance. He never came. _

_The scream tore throughout the building; her entire body trembled as she watched him fall, his eyes never leaving her own until he lay limp and lifeless on the floor in the pool of his own blood. It leaked out against the marble floor, forever tainted. She crumbled to the ground, eyes wide, mouth hanging open, tears streaming down her face. _

"_Oh my God…" Selene whispered, trembling. Above his fallen body stood Vicious, the blade of his katana dripping, it had sliced through his neck like butter, as if Mao has been made soft and pliable. His skin was so easy to maneuver through. _

"_Mao…" She whispered, looking up towards Vicious who advanced on her, now, katana drawn. _

"_Crystal, please protect me!" She screamed as the entire room was engulfed in a white light. _

"I can't escape the scene, every time I close my eyes, its there. If I would have stayed one more day in the cryogenic sleep, watching him die, over and over again, I don't know what I would have done." Chibi-Usagi explained. "He did that for me you know? I wanted to have children so bad, mother, but he didn't want to have children in a world that wasn't totally peaceful. That's why he decided to end the feud between the Red and White dragons. So we could concentrate on making raising the baby…"

Usagi nodded, she knew what it was like to loose a love, despite how many blows he had dealt her in the past she couldn't deny the fact that he was her first love. Which presented the new and unique problem, if Vicious remembered his past life, would it be possible for him to change? And if he couldn't, could Usagi destroy him before he destroyed her?

"What was your relationship to Mao?" They both hadn't even noticed him come in, respectively wrapped up in their own thoughts. Spike approached the girl, his voice much softer than it had been before. He knelt in front of her, both of his ghostly eyes staring deep within her.

"He was my husband."

----

I'd like to apologize to my reviewers if I have any left after my super power trip. Its not right to threaten you like that, making it seem like my story is all that a bag of chips. I'd appreciate if you did review if you think you have something to say. Positive or negative.

Thanks for all who stuck with me through this major diva-stage of mine.


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